ABSTRACT
A political system that evolves over a long period of time will come to represent the accumulated wisdom of the community, or at least of that part of the community
habituated to making decisions. A fi xed and settled constitution should be seen as representing the aggregated outcome of innumerable compromises, struggles and adjustments over the years; it may be regarded as a kind of residuum of practical political experience. Conservatism takes consolation from the longevity of institutions and can rationalise this disposition by arguing that, after all, it is only when we know institutions thoroughly that we can make the fullest use of them, bend them to our purposes, learn how to avoid their pitfalls. Such is the complexity of society that it would be impossible to design institutions to fulfi l social purposes; much better and safer to adapt those we know, and which have proved their value over time.
