Absolutism

Legal Definition and Related Resources of Absolutism

Meaning of Absolutism

That government in which public power is vested in some person or persons, unchecked and uncontrolled by any law or institution. The word was first used at the beginning of this century, in Spain, where he who was in favor of the absolute power of the king, and opposed to the constitutional system introduced by the Cortes during the struggle with the French, was called absolutista,

What does Absolutism mean in American Law?

The definition of Absolutism in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

In political discourse, a mode of government in which some very large fraction of total and final power is held by a person, or by a relatively small group, class, or faction. It is necessarily not a very precise concept, as it is impossible to stipulate how large a fraction of ultimate power must be in the hands of how small a group for the result to be called an absolutism. It is difficult to imagine an actual government in which a single person had the actual power to do anything; at some point aggregations of others would be likely to succeed in checking at least some impulses of the “absolute” ruler, and he would respond to some extent to that risk by some degree of self-restraint. But Stalinist Russia and Hitler Germany may have come close to being historical examples of absolute absolutisms. Perhaps the best way to understand the term is to see it as what one uses to describe that form of government most sharply distinguishable from a polyarchy or checks-and-balances kind of political system.

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Absolutism in the Dictionary Absolutism in our legal dictionaries
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Related topics Absolutism in the World Encyclopedia of Law

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This definition of Absolutism Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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Absolutism is a political system where the monarch or a dictator has unrestricted powers. There are no checks or balances on the dictator’s power.

Absolutism is a political system where the monarch or a dictator has unrestricted powers. There are no checks or balances on the dictator’s power.

Grammar

This term is a noun.

Etimology of Absolutism

(You may find absolutism at the world legal encyclopedia and the etimology of more terms).

1753 in theology, of God’s actions; 1830 in political science, “system of government where the power of the sovereign is unrestricted,” in which sense it seems to have been introduced by British reformer and parliamentarian Maj. Gen. Thomas Perronet Thompson (1783-1869). See absolute and -ism. also leveler, 1590s, someone or something that levels or makes even; agent noun from level (verb). In English history, from 1640s (with initial capital) as the name of a political party of the time of Charles I that advocated abolishing all differences of position and rank.


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