LAW QUOTES II

quotations about law

Law quote

The plaintiff and defendant in an action at law are two men ducking their heads in a bucket, and daring each other to remain longest under water.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Samuel Johnson


Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

letter to Colonel Van Meter, Apr. 27, 1781

Tags: Thomas Jefferson


So diverse and adverse are the decisions of different high courts, and of the same high court, that in examining cases, as precedents by which to try a suit, the lawyer encounters a perpetual change of cloud and sunshine, and occasionally a real thunder storm, succeeded by a burning sun. What was law at one time, is not law now--what is law in one place, is not in another--locality, individuality, prejudice, and perpetual change, characterize the decisions of judges learned in the law.

LEVI CARROLL JUDSON

The Moral Probe: or, One Hundred and Two Common Sense Essays on the Nature of Men and Things


Laws, like houses, lean on one another.

EDMUND BURKE

Tracts Relative to the Laws Against Popery in Ireland


It's a strange thing, we think that law brings order. Law doesn't. How do we know that law does not bring order? Look around us. We live under the rule of law. Notice how much order we have?

HOWARD ZINN

Voices of a People's History of the United States

Tags: Howard Zinn


It is wrong to consider that courts are established for the benefit of the people. Those who want to perpetuate their power do so through the courts. If people were to settle their own quarrels, a third party would not be able to exercise any authority over them. Truly, men were less unmanly when they settled their disputes either by fighting or by asking their relatives to decide for them. They became more unmanly and cowardly when they resorted to the courts of law. It was certainly a sign of savagery when they settled their disputes by fighting. Is it any less so, if I ask a third party to decide between you and me? Surely, the decision of a third party is not always right. The parties alone know who is right. We, in our simplicity and ignorance, imagine that a stranger, by taking our money, gives us justice.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Hind Swaraj


The final test of civilization of a people is the respect they have for law.

LEWIS F. KORNS

Thoughts

Tags: Lewis F. Korns


Law is the rudder of the ship of state.

AUSTIN O'MALLEY

Keystones of Thought


It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

attributed, King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop

Tags: Martin Luther King, Jr.


Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.

ARISTOTLE

Politics

Tags: Aristotle


I don't go by what the law say. The law's liable to say anything. I go by if it's right or not. It don't matter what the law say. I take and look at it for myself.

AUGUST WILSON

The Piano Lesson

Tags: August Wilson


Although I broke a lot of laws as a teenager, I straightened out immediately upon turning eighteen, when I realized the state had a legal right to execute me.

GEORGE CARLIN

Brain Droppings

Tags: George Carlin


Law is a bottomless pit.

JOHN ARBUTHNOT

The History of John Bull

Tags: John Arbuthnot


The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom.

JOHN LOCKE

Second Treatise of Government

Tags: John Locke


When I hear any man talk of an unalterable law, the only effect it produces upon me is to convince me that he is an unalterable fool.

SYDNEY SMITH

Peter Plymley's Letters

Tags: Sydney Smith


Every new time will give its law.

MAXIM GORKY

The New Lawyer's Wit and Wisdom

Tags: Maxim Gorky


Ignorance of the law is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the laws to which he is subject.

THOMAS HOBBES

Leviathan

Tags: Thomas Hobbes


Who to himself is law, no law doth need,
Offends no law, and is a king indeed.

GEORGE CHAPMAN

Bussy D' Ambois

Tags: George Chapman


Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

EDMUND BURKE

speech at Bristol previous to the election of 1780

Tags: Edmund Burke


Courts are places where the ending is written first and all that precedes is simply vaudeville.

CHARLES BUKOWSKI

Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Tags: Charles Bukowski