The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property. ibid.
The power to act according to discretion for the public good, without the prescription of the law, and sometimes even against it, is that which is called prerogative. ibid.
Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense – nonsense upon stilts. Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832, English philosopher
Right ... is the child of law: from real laws come real rights; but from imaginary laws, from laws of nature, fancied and invented by poets, rhetoricians, and dealers in moral and intellectual poisons, come imaginary rights, a bastard brood of monsters. Jeremy Bentham
The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong. Jeremy Bentham
All punishment is mischief: all punishment in itself is evil. Jeremy Bentham
Every law is contrary to liberty. Jeremy Bentham
The Constitution does not allow reasons of state to influence our judgements. William Murray, Rex v Wilkes 8th June 1768
Consider what you think Justice requires, and decide accordingly. William Murray
Anyone who things talk is cheap should get some legal advice. Franklin P Jones
Are not laws dangerous which inhibit the passions? Compare the centuries of anarchy with those of the strongest legalism in any country you like and you will see that it is only when the laws are silent that the greatest actions appear. Marquis de Sade
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Mahatma Gandhi
In this country … the individual subject … ‘has nothing to do with the laws but to obey them’. Samuel Horsley, speech House of Lords 13th November 1795
Written laws are like spiders’ webs: they will catch it is true the weak and the poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful. Anacharsis
He is no lawyer who cannot take two sides. Charles Lamb
Laws were made to be broken. Christopher North
No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by public opinion. Carrie Chapman Catt, American feminist
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Aleister Crowley
I don’t like to think of laws as rules you have to follow, but more as suggestions. George Carlin
There are two sorts of laws, those of absolute equity and universality, and the bizarre ones which owe their autonomy only to blindness or to the force of circumstance. The latter merely cover the man who is breaking them with a passing disgrace, which time then transfers to the judges and the nations, on whom it remains forever. Denis Diderot, 1713-84, French philosopher
We operated from the premise that everything we did do was legal. Colonel Oliver North
Ian Carmichael [lawyer in remand cell]: I put my services such as they are at your disposal ...
Terry Thomas [prisoner smoking and pacing cell]: ... Seventeen times I’ve been up. That’s the idea. Get tough. You've got to learn to get tough. You've got to be able to shout down the other side to the judge if necessary. That’s Lesson Number One. Now, Lesson Two: what am I charged with? ... The other side can always make a mistake ... What do you take me for? A crook? Brothers in Law 1957 starring Richard Attenborough & Ian Carmichael & Terry-Thomas & Jill Adams & Miles Malleson & Raymond Huntley & Eric Barker & Nicholas Parsons & Kynaston-Reeves & John le Mesurier & Irene Handl et al, director Roy Boulting
The more laws the more offenders. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732
The law is whatever the powers that be and power happen to say it is today. Jordan Maxwell
Child Abuse: Gulag of the Family Courts: Sir Mark Potter, Britain’s most senior family judge and President of the High Court Family Division told The Times that the judiciary had been split about whether to open up the family courts and that there was not a single point of view. However, he welcomed a move to greater openness by the judiciary delivering public judgments, subject to anonymity. ukcolumn online article
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. Martin Luther King
Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. Martin Luther King
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important. (Law & Hanging & King, Martin Luther) Martin Luther King
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
Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, 1764
Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. Albert Einstein
The Law always limits every power it gives. David Hume
Had laws not been, we never had been blamed;
For not to know we sin is innocence. William D’Avenant, 1606-68
Without precedent in history, English Law came to embody a fairness and equality barely known elsewhere. The Strange Case of the Law I: The Story of English Justice: Laying Down the Law, BBC 2012
The story of England’s law is nothing less than the story of England’s people. ibid.
The Law has also been guilty of brutality and excess. ibid.
English law is this country’s greatest gift to the world. ibid.
The trial itself could be an ordeal. Literally ... ordeals were supervised by the clergy. ibid.
Members of the public would play an essential role in the legal process. ibid.
The clergy: they enjoyed their own legal system – canon law. ibid.
Henry II had given the rest of his kingdom a lasting legacy. ibid.
Now English didn’t just have laws it had a legal system. ibid.
The great charter – Magna Carta. Its sixty-three clauses cover a wide range of royal concessions. ibid.
Magna Carta would be become a clarion call against overbearing government. ibid.
By the late 13th century juries were a familiar part of English law. ibid.
The jury: the institution that most defines English justice. ibid.
The state plucked John Archer off the street. He was far from being the first man to be legally tortured in England, but he was the last. No warrant for torture would ever be issued in England again. The Strange Case of the Law II: The Story of English Justice: The Pursuit of Liberty
The courageous men who used the law to challenge tyranny. ibid.