“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder. What are the consequences of such a perversion? ... In the first place, it erases from everyone s conscience the distinction between justice and injustice...When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.”
“The nature of law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one and the same thing. There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are just because law makes them so. Thus, in order to make plunder appear just and sacred to many consciences, it is only necessary for the law to decree and sanction it. Slavery, restrictions, and monopoly find defenders not only among those who profit from them but also among those who suffer from them.”
“Do laws make Americans virtuous? We might as well ask if red lights stop cars.”
“Another lawful use of the law is, to consult it as a rule and pattern by which to regulate our spirit and conversation. The grace of God, received by faith, will dispose us to obedience in general, but through remaining darkness and ignorance we are much at a loss as to particulars. We are therefore sent to the law, that we may learn how to walk worthy of God, who has called us to his kingdom and glory; and every precept has its proper place and use.”
“Haki hushindana na sheria unapokuwa umeshtakiwa. Kama huna hatia lakini sheria ikasema una hatia, sheria imeishinda haki. Kama una hatia lakini sheria ikathibitisha kwamba huna hatia, sheria imeishinda haki. Kama huna hatia na sheria ikathibitisha kwamba huna hatia, sheria na haki vimelingana. Lakini kama utakata rufaa ikathibitika kwamba huna hatia, haki imeishinda sheria.”
“Sheria wakati mwingine inaweza kuonea mtu. Pigana hata tone la mwisho kutetea haki yako.”
“Instead of worrying or scaring Take the Laws of the Universe, Take the method or technique you know; If for some reason this method does not work for you, Learn another one fit for you AND FIX THAT”
“The lawbreaking itch is not always an anarchic one. In the first place, the human personality has (or ought to have) a natural resistance to coercion. We don’t like to be pushed and shoved, even if it’s in a direction we might choose to go. In the second place, the human personality has (or ought to have) a natural sense of the preposterous.”
“And least of all may they do unusual actions for fun . People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament. If anything is said in this Court to encourage a belief that Englishmen are entitled to jump off bridges for their own amusement the next thing to go will be the Constitution. For these reasons, therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this appeal must fail. It is not for me to say what offence the appellant has committed, but I am satisfied that he has committed SOME offence, for which he has been most properly punished. Is It a Free Country?”
“In relation to law I am doubtful whether, even at the present time, science has fairly begun.”
“The present issue is one of comparative simplicity. That is, the facts of the case are intelligible to the least-instructed layman, and the only persons utterly at sea are those connected with the law. But FACTUM CLARUM, JUS NEBULOSUM, or, ;the clearer the facts, the more dubious the law. What the appellant did in fact is simple and manifest, but what offence, if any, he has committed in law is a question of the gravest difficulty. Is It a Free Country”
“It may be said at once that it any case no blame whatever attaches to the persons responsible for the framing of these charges, who are placed in a most difficult position by the appellant s unfortunate act. It is a principle of the English law that a person who appears in a police court has done something undesirable, and citizens who take it upon themselves to do unusual actions which attract the attention of the police should be careful to bring these actions into one of the recognized categories of crimes and offenses, for it is intolerable that the police should be put to the pains of inventing reasons for finding them undesirable. Is It a Free Country?”
“Law, being a practical thing, must found itself on actual forces. It is quite enough, therefore, for the law, that man, by an instinct which he shares with the domestic dog, and of which the seal gives a most striking example, will not allow himself to be dispossessed, either by force or fraud, of what he olds, without trying to get it back again. Philosophy may find a hundred reasons to justify the instinct, but it would be totally immaterial if it should condemn it and bid us surrender without a murmur.”
“To see triumph the nullities, see prosper the dishonor, see grow the injustice, to see agglomerate powers in the hands of the wicked, the man comes to discourage the virtue, laughing at the honor, ashamed to be honest.”
“The lawyer is not worth in the calm times; his great role is when he must take the power of the despots, presenting before the courts the supreme character of free peoples.”
“It is unfortunate that calling 911 may result in an incompetent or corrupt police officer being sent to you.”
“The police seem to be learning the hard way that the more abusive they are to people, the less people will cooperate with them.”