Europeans are accustomed more to a resignation from high office over a matter of principle than we are. To be sure, there are political scandals in Europe1 from time-to-time that serve as a functional equivalent to our Teapot Dome or Watergate However, cabinet ministers in Europe more typically leave the government be- cause they can no longer support the position of the government in a dispute over a burning issue of the day, and not because they are hounded from office for their misdeeds…
My task is something of a difficult one. It is to try to evoke the voice of Thomas More. The task is not so easy because for most of us, the play5 and the film,6 A Manfor All Seasons, form the sole basis of our understanding and appreciation of More’s life and times. I will try to let him come through to you in his own words, not in the language of the playwright Robert Bolt.
The Principled Resignation of Thomas More
McGlynn Gaffney Jr., Edward
Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Vol.31 (1997)
Abstract
Europeans are accustomed more to a resignation from high office over a matter of principle than we are. To be sure, there are political scandals in Europe1 from time-to-time that serve as a functional equivalent to our Teapot Dome or Watergate However, cabinet ministers in Europe more typically leave the government be- cause they can no longer
support the position of the government in a dispute over a burning issue of the day, and not because they are hounded from office for their misdeeds…
My task is something of a difficult one. It is to try to evoke the voice of Thomas More. The task is not so easy because for most of us, the play5 and the film,6 A Manfor All Seasons, form the sole basis of our understanding and appreciation of More’s life and times. I will try to let him come through to you in his own words, not in the language of the playwright Robert Bolt.
Click here to read this article from Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review
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