Nature of law

Explore 10 quotes about Nature of law

The law may... Depend on what the judge has had for breakfast.

Robert M. Hutchins

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Author

Robert M. Hutchins

Language

English

Time

1933 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Hutchins, Robert M. "The Autobiography of an Ex-Law Student." The University of Chicago Law Review, Mar. 1934. Originally a speech at The Association of American Law Schools meeting. Dec. 1933, Chicago, IL, USA.

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.

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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.

Written laws are like spiders' webs; they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Anacharsis

Quoted in Plutarch's Lives, by Plutarch

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Topic

Rich vs. poor Nature of law Law

Speaker

Anacharsis

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

6th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Anacharsis. Quoted in "Solon." Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. c. 120.

Current Citation

Anacharsis. Quoted in "Solon." Greek Lives, written by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The Common Law

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Topic

Nature of law Legal theory Law

Speaker

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Source

The Common Law

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1880 1880s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. "Lecture 1: Early Forms of Liability." Lowell Lectures. 23 Nov. 1880, Lowell Institute, Lowell, MA, USA.

Current Citation

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, Jr. The Common Law. Belknap Press, 2009, lecture 1.

Laws are generally found to be nets of such a texture, as the little creep through, the great break through, and the middle-sized are alone entangled in.

William Shenstone

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Author

William Shenstone

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1764 1760s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Shenstone, William. "On Politicks." The Works in Verse and Prose of William Shenstone, Esq. Vol. 2, London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1764.

The law is not a "light" for you or any man to see by; the law is not an instrument of any kind. The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps to it, a citizen may walk safely.

Robert Bolt

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Speaker

Sir Thomas More

Author

Robert Bolt

Source

A Man for All Seasons (play)

Medium

Play

Statement Type

Definition Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1960 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bolt, Robert. A Man for All Seasons. 1 July 1960, Globe Theatre, London, England, UK, act 2.

The Law is the killy-loo bird of the sciences. The killy-loo, of course, was the bird that insisted on flying backward because it didn't care where it was going but was mightily interested in where it had been... Only The Law, inexorably devoted to all its most ancient principles and precedents, makes a vice of innovation and a virtue of hoariness.

Fred Rodell

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Author

Fred Rodell

Source

Woe Unto You, Lawyers!

Language

English

Time

1939 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Rodell, Fred. Woe Unto You, Lawyers! Reynal & Hitchcock, 1939, ch. 2.

Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch small Flies, but let Wasps and Hornets break through.

Jonathan Swift

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Topic

Nature of law Law

Author

Jonathan Swift

Source

A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind

Medium

Essay

Genre

Philosophical literature

Language

English

Time

1711 1710s 18th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Swift, Jonathan. A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind. London: John Morphew, 1711.

Current Citation

Swift, Jonathan. "A Tritical Essay upon the Faculties of the Mind." Parodies, Hoaxes, Mock Treatises: Polite Conversation, Directions Servants and Other Works, edited by Valerie Rumbold. Cambridge University Press, 2013.

Anacharsis laughed at Solon for imagining the dishonesty and covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written laws, which were like spiders' webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich.

Plutarch

Plutarch's Lives

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More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of law Law Rich vs. poor

Author

Plutarch

Source

Plutarch's Lives

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

119 110s 2nd century

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Anacharsis. Quoted in "Solon." Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. c. 120.

Current Citation

Anacharsis. Quoted in "Solon." Greek Lives, written by Plutarch, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Law: an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.

St. Thomas Aquinas

Summa Theologicae

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Topic

Nature of law

Author

St. Thomas Aquinas

Source

Summa Theologicae

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Definition

Language

Latin

Time

1273 1270s 13th century

Era

Middle Ages

Authentication Score 1

Original Citation

Saint Thomas Aquinus. Summa Theologica. c. 1274, pt. 1-2.

Current Citation

Saint Thomas Aquinus. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas, translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Provinc. Christian Classics, 1981, pt. 1-2.