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Quotes about laws

126 quotes from 83 people

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We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.”
Martin Luther King Jr.1929–1968Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
- Justice
It is obvious that “obscenity” is not a term capable of exact legal definition; in the practice of the Courts, it means “anything that shocks the magistrate.”
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Sceptical Essays (1928), Ch. 10: Recrudescence of Puritanism
- Clever Jabs
Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804Elliot’s Debates, volume 2, p. 364. (28 July 1788)
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 Locke1632–1704Second Treatise of Government, Ch. VI, sec. 57
- Freedom
That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a maxim that has been long and generally approved; never, that I know of, controverted.
Benjamin Franklin1706–1790Letter to Benjamin Vaughan, on Blackstone’s Ratio (14 March 1785)
- Justice
The interpretation of constitutional principles must not be too literal. We must remember that the machinery of government would not work if it were not allowed a little play in its joints.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.1841–1935Writing for the Court, Bain Peanut Co. v. Pinson, 282 U.S. 499, 501 (1931).
- Government
No tyranny is more cruel than the one practiced in the shadow of the laws and under color of justice — when, so to speak, one proceeds to drown the unfortunate on the very plank by which they had saved themselves.
Montesquieu1689–1755Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline (1734), p. 89
- Justice
Simply having rules does not change the things that people want to do. You have to change incentives.
Jimmy Walesborn 1966Interview with Reason magazine (June 2007)
Punishment is the last and least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime.
John Ruskin1819–1900Notes on the General Principles of Employment for the Destitute and Criminal Classes (1868)
- Justice
No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784The Rambler (1750–1752), No. 148 (17 August 1751)
- Power
The only chance women have for justice in this country is to violate the law, as I have done, and as I shall continue to do.
Susan B. Anthony1820–1906Account of Matilda Joslyn Gage (June 20, 1873) to Kansas Leavenworth Times (July 3, 1873)
- Justice
- Women
Government implies the power of making laws. It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience.
Alexander Hamilton1757–1804The Federalist Papers (1787–1788), No. 15
- Government
All laws which can be broken without any injury to another, are counted but a laughing-stock, and are so far from bridling the desires and lusts of men, that on the contrary they stimulate them.
Baruch Spinoza1632–1677Political Treatise (1677), Ch. 10, Of Aristocracy, Conclusion
The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
John Adams1735–1826A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787), Ch. 1 Marchamont Nedham: The Right Constitution of a Commonwealth Examined
- Government
The judge is condemned when the guilty is absolved.
PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCSentences, Maxim 407
- Justice