This use of the word "prescribe" is probably unfamiliar to most English speakers (outside of Louisiana lawyers), accustomed as we are to the common law. Gómez Dávila is using "prescribe" in the sense it has in civil law jurisdictions: when a right prescribes, it becomes unenforceable or invalid due to the passage of time. In common law countries, rather than speaking of the prescription of a right, we speak of a statute of limitation barring the enforcement of a right.
The original Spanish is:
ReplyDeleteEl reaccionario no argumenta contra el mundo moderno esperando vencerlo, sino para que los derechos del alma no prescriban.
This use of the word "prescribe" is probably unfamiliar to most English speakers (outside of Louisiana lawyers), accustomed as we are to the common law. Gómez Dávila is using "prescribe" in the sense it has in civil law jurisdictions: when a right prescribes, it becomes unenforceable or invalid due to the passage of time. In common law countries, rather than speaking of the prescription of a right, we speak of a statute of limitation barring the enforcement of a right.
ReplyDelete