Laws Quotes

Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.

A law is something which must have a moral basis, so that there is an inner compelling force for every citizen to obey.

Where you find the laws most numerous, there you will find also the greatest injustice.

Good laws have their origins in bad morals.

Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the institutionalised medium of reason, that's all we have between us and the tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined feelings.

What power has law where only money rules.

Necessity has no law.

It was the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left it of marble. But how much nobler will be the sovereign's boast when he shall have it to say that he found law... a sealed book and left it a living letter; found it the patrimony of the rich and left it the inheritance of the poor; found it the two-edged sword of craft and oppression and left it the staff of honesty and the shield of innocence.

Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law that is not reason.

Ignorance of the law excuses no man: Not that all men know the law, but because 'tis an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.

Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed.

It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive.

Pity is the virtue of the law, and none but tyrants use it cruelly.

In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.

I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.

When you break the big laws, you do not get freedom; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.

A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.