Lawyer

Explore 167 quotes by Lawyers

Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of life Life

Speaker

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1911 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "The Class of '61." Fiftieth Anniversary of Graduation of the Harvard Class of 1861. 28 June 1911, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "The Class of '61." The Essential Holmes, edited by Richard A. Posner. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

John Roberts

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

More information about this quote

Topic

American politics

Author

John Roberts

Source

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

2007 2000s 21st century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Roberts, John. United States, Supreme Court. Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1. United States Reports, vol. 551, 28 June 2007, pp. 701-876, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/551/701/.

An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the First Amendment.

Hugo Black

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan

More information about this quote

Topic

First Amendment Freedom of speech and expression American politics

Author

Hugo Black

Source

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1964 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Black, Hugo. United States, Supreme Court. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. United States Reports, vol. 376, 9 Mar. 1964, pp. 254-305. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/376/254/.

Justice is not to be taken by storm. She is to be wooed by slow advances.

More information about this quote

Topic

Justice Incremental progress Political theory

Speaker

Benjamin Cardozo

Source

The Function and the Ends of Law

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Cardozo, Benjamin Nathan. "The Function and the Ends of Law." Dec. 1923, Yale University Law School, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.

Thurgood Marshall

Stanley v. Georgia

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More information about this quote

Topic

First Amendment Constitutional law

Author

Thurgood Marshall

Source

Stanley v. Georgia

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Marshall, Thurgood. United States, Supreme Court. Stanley v. Georgia. United States Reports, vol. 394, 7 Apr. 1969, pp. 557-572. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/394/557/.

To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone... We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Earl Warren

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

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More information about this quote

Topic

Jim Crow Segregation Civil rights

Author

Earl Warren

Source

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1954 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Warren, Earl. United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. United States Reports, vol. 347, 17 May 1954, pp. 483-496. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/.

The king, moreover, is not only incapable of doing wrong, but even of thinking wrong: he can never mean to do an improper thing: in him is no folly or weakness.

William Blackstone

Commentaries on the Laws of England

Buy Commentaries on the Laws of England at Amazon Buy Commentaries on the Laws of England at Amazon
Read Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book I at Project Gutenberg

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Topic

Monarchy Legal theory

Author

William Blackstone

Source

Commentaries on the Laws of England

Medium

Treatise

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1765 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Law of England: Book the First. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, ch. 7.

Current Citation

Blackstone, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England: Book I Of the Rights of Persons, edited by David Lemmings. Oxford University Press, 2016, ch. 7.

The history of liberty has largely been the history of observance of procedural safeguards.

Felix Frankfurter

McNabb v. United States

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More information about this quote

Topic

Rule of law Freedom

Author

Felix Frankfurter

Source

McNabb v. United States

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1943 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Frankfurter, Felix. United States, Supreme Court. McNabb v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 318, 1 Mar. 1943, pp. 339-349. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/318/332/.

In other words, the First Amendment has a penumbra where privacy is protected from governmental intrusion.

William O. Douglas

Grisworld v. Connecticut

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More information about this quote

Topic

First Amendment Constitutional law

Author

William O. Douglas

Source

Grisworld v. Connecticut

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1965 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Douglas, William O. United States, Supreme Court. Griswold v. Connecticut. United States Reports, vol. 381, 7 June 1965, pp. 479–531. Justia, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/479/.

The law must be stable, and yet it cannot stand still.

Roscoe Pound

More information about this quote

Topic

Legal theory Law

Speaker

Roscoe Pound

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1921 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Pound, Roscoe. Lecture delivered before Trinity College. Lent Term, 1922, Trinity College, Cambridge, England, UK.

Current Citation

Pound, Roscoe. Interpretations of Legal History. Cambridge University Press, 2013, ch. 1.

We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that is growing.

John Dean

More information about this quote

Topic

Watergate American politics

Speaker

John Dean

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1973 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Dean, John. "Cancer on the Presidency." 21 Mar. 1973, Oval Office, The White House, Washington, DC, USA. Presidental briefing.

It'll play in Peoria.

John Ehrlichman

More information about this quote

Topic

The political center Middle America Political strategy American politics

Speaker

John Ehrlichman

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Ehrichman, John. Quoted in "The Middle American Who Edits Ideas for Nixon." Written by Robert B. Semple, Jr. The New York Times, 12 Apr. 1970. Originally spoken to a newsman in 1969 in Washington, DC, USA.

The house of everyone is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence, as for his repose

Edward Coke

Semayne's Case

More information about this quote

Topic

Castle doctrine Home Legal theory

Author

Edward Coke

Source

Semayne's Case

Medium

Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1603 1600s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Coke, Edward. Court of King's Bench. Peter Semayne v Richard Gresham. 5 Co Rep 91 a. Michaelmas Term, 1604.

The truth is, that the law is always approaching, and never reaching, consistency. It is forever adopting new principles from life at one end, and it always retains old ones from history at the other, which have not yet been absorbed or sloughed off. It will become entirely consistent only when it ceases to grow.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Evolution of law Nature of law Law

Author

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Language

English

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Early Forms of Liability." 23 Nov. 1880, The Lowell Institute, Boston, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Early Forms of Liability." The Common Law. Belknap Press, 2009.

Whether, to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interest.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Establishing the American legal standard for obscenity, which does not receive First Amendment protection.

More information about this quote

Topic

Obscenity Freedom of speech and expression First Amendment

Author

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Medium

Supreme Court opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Roth v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 354, 24 June 1957, pp. 476-514. supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/476/.

All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance—unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion—have the full protection of the guaranties... But implicit in the history of the First Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance... We hold that obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Obscenity Freedom of speech and expression First Amendment

Author

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Medium

Supreme Court opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1957 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Brennan, William J, Jr. United States, Supreme Court. Roth v. United States. United States Reports, vol. 354, 24 June 1957, pp. 476-514. supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354/476/.

There is no doubt that, if there were a super-Supreme Court, a substantial proportion of our reversals of state courts would also be reversed. We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.

Robert H. Jackson

Brown v. Allen

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More information about this quote

Topic

Judicial supremacy Constitutional theory

Author

Robert H. Jackson

Source

Brown v. Allen

Medium

Supreme Court opinion Legal opinion

Genre

Legal writing

Language

English

Time

1953 1950s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Jackson, Robert H. United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Allen. United States Reports, vol. 344, 9 Feb. 1953, pp. 443. Justia, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/344/443/.

We current Justices read the Constitution in the only way that we can: as Twentieth Century Americans. We look into the history of the time of framing and to the intervening history of interpretation. But, the ultimate question must be, what do the words of the text mean in our time. For the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but it's in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.

William J. Brennan, Jr.

More information about this quote

Topic

Constitutional interpretation US Constitution Constitutional theory

Speaker

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1985 1980s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Brennan, William J, Jr. "The Constitution of the United States: Contemporary Ratification." Text and Teaching Symposium. 12 Oct. 1985, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. Speech.

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 confute him.

John Selden

Table Talk (Selden)

More information about this quote

Topic

Legal theory Law

Author

John Selden

Source

Table Talk (Selden)

Language

English

Time

1689 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Selden, John. "Law." The Table-Talk Of John Selden. London: J.M. Dent and Company, 1689.

The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.

John Philpot Curran

More information about this quote

Topic

Price of freedom Freedom

Speaker

John Philpot Curran

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech

Language

English

Time

1816 1810s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Curran, John Philpot. Speech on the right of election of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. 10 July 1790, Dublin, Ireland.