We tend to remember Lord Acton mainly for the line "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (well, we tend to remember him by the same quote with the qualification removed, but never mind). It's interesting to see, though, that he's now being quoted, like Wilde and Dotty Parker, as a quote magnet - anything that sounds good, attach it to him:
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the People vs. The Banks. – Lord Acton, Lord Chief Justice of England, 1875
Lord Cockburn, who was CJ in 1875, would be pissed at being bounced from his honour for a Catholic historian.
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