Time: August 15th, 2014
Lecturer: Professor FENG Keli
Host: Professor ZHANG Shuguang
Commentators: GAO Quanxi, WANG Yan, JI Naili, WANG Ruichang, FENG Xingyuan, SHENG Hong, LI Yunzhe

Professor FENG Keli thought the conservatism of Edmund Burke had something to do with the legal education he received when he was young, i.e., the knowledge of British common law. He pointed out that Burke employed common law in the observation and comments of the affairs he witnessed in his time. He used Burke’s speeches and works to prove this point. By introducing some important figures and their opinions that were related to the historicism in common law, Professor FENG thought Burke had kept in mind the Magna Carta of the UK. He also compared their similarities.

By considering the relation between Burke and the common law tradition of Britain, Professor FENG thought Burke was a unique conservatism who inherited the same tradition of the historical school of law. By analyzing the statements of Burke on the French Revolution and the two wars concerning the new continent, Professor FENG thought Burke was heavily influenced by the traditions of the historical school of law and its repercussion on the form of Britain’s legal system. By analysis, Professor FENG also believed that what Burke really concerned was not only the credibility of law itself and the form of authority, but also how to sustain a modern civil society where there was freedom.