Quotes on Law

The law of self-preservation is higher than written law. — Thomas Jefferson

The pages of history shine on instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge — U.S. vs. Dougherty, 1972

On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed. — Thomas Jefferson

The Judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. — Thomas Jefferson

Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. — Thomas Jefferson

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. — Thomas Jefferson

Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. — Charles Louis de Secondat, De L’Esprit des Lois

The merit of our Constitution was, not that it promotes democracy, but checks it. — Horatio Seymour

The more corrupt the state, the more laws it has. — Tacitus

Every law is an evil for every law is an infraction of liberty — Jeremy Bentham

To live outside the law you must be honest. — Lao Tse

Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. — Lucius Annaeus Seneca

There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. — Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

My body is my own, at least I have always so regarded it. If I do harm … it is I who suffers, not the state — Mark Twain

Law and morality may succeed for a time in holding human appetites, ambitions and propensities in check, but when opportunities arise, they will break out again from the depths of the human heart — Theophrastus

Every actual state is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well — Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can’t legislate morality; We legislate little else. — Robert Bork

Laws should be constructed so as to leave as little as possible to the decision of those who judge. — Aristotle

The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of it’s enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law, and no courts are bound to enforce it. — 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256

Unnecessary laws are but traps for money. — Thomas Hobbes

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. — Thomas Jefferson

The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the facts in controversy — John Jay

The 10 Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincon’s Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words — The Atlanta Journal

Just as it is the duty of all men to obey just laws, so it is the duty of all men to disobey unjust laws — Martin Luther King Jr.

The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free. They are the lovers of law and order, who observe the law when the government breaks it. — Henry David Thoreau, Slavery in Massachusetts

Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place — Frederic Bastiat, The Law

The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the Prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this. — Albert Einstein, My First Impression of the U.S.A., 1921

We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions. — Ronald Reagan

It would be an absurdity for jurors to be required to accept the judge’s view of the law, against their own opinion, judgment, and conscience — John Adams

The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a co-ordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone. — Thomas Jefferson

Where there is no law, there is no freedom — John Locke

Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world. — Daniel Webster

The more corrupt the Republic, the more the laws. — Giovanni Sartori

The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be. — Lao Tsu

Constitutions are checks upon the hasty action of the majority. They are the self-imposed restraints of a whole people upon a majority of them to secure sober action and a respect for the rights of the minority. — William Howard Taft

I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, two men are called a Law Firm, and three or more are called a Congress. — John Adams

We’re not really going to get anywhere until we take the criminality out of drugs. — George P. Schultz, McNeil-Lehrer News Hour

The jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact. — Oliver Wendell Holmes

Power is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny. — Patrick Henry

The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure. — Albert Einstein

Where the constitution is mute, we should vote about these matters rather than litigate them. — Robert Bork

One single object…[will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation. — Thomas Jefferson