"Silence presumes consent" - it was a pretty general legal position, and I think it still applies, in certtain situations.

Makes a lot of sense in certain situations. For example if you know someone is committing some kind of crime, and don't make any objection, you have to be some kind of accomplice, unless you've got strong grounds for it.

For example when your government is engaged in some kind of unjust war.

(No John, I haven't got that compendium. I've got a lot of books by Chesterton. Like Shakespeare, he's full of quotations - open any page and you find yourself saying "so that's where that comes from.")