The Traditions of the British Constitution: Modern Dilemmas and Interpretations

Abstract

By investigating the problem of influence of the British political tradition in general and the English common law tradition, in particular, on the American political discourse the author analyses the following aspects of modern theoretical discussion: in spite of the comprehensive substantiation in the works of J. Pocock, Q. Skinner and the other representatives of the Cambridge school of political language of idea of succession of the American political culture with the earlier traditions of the English political thought, nevertheless there are many influential theoreticians and intellectuals defending the thesis of the deep-rooted radical differences of the American liberal interpretation of the problems of state and law from the British political legacy. The author, on the contrary, seeks to substantiate the thesis on the continuous presence of tradition of the ancient British Constitution in the modern American political discourse and legal culture.