Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2006-08-02 Aug 2, 2006Seditious libel is the doctrine that flourished in England during and after the Star Chamber. It is the hallmark of closed societies throughout the world. Under it criticism of government is viewed as defamation and punished as a crime.~ Harry Kalven, Jr.Every attempt to gag the free expression of thought is an unsocial act against society. That is why judges and juries who try to enforce such laws make themselves ridiculous.~ Jay FoxJudges ... rule on the basis of law, not public opinion, and they should be totally indifferent to pressures of the times.~ Justice Warren E. Burger Aug 1, 2006The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.~ John JayTo say that subjects in general are not proper judges (of the law) when their governors oppress them and play the tyrant, and when they defend their rights ...is as great a treason as ever a man uttered... (more)~ Jonathan MayhewThe jury in all criminal cases, shall be the judges of the law and the facts.~ Georgia, Declaration of Rights Jul 31, 2006Laws provide against injury from others, but not from ourselves.~ Thomas JeffersonIt is not the business of government to make men virtuous or religious, or to preserve the fool from the consequences of his own folly. Government should be repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on the part of others, and the moment governmental prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger of defeating the very ends they are intended to serve.~ Henry GeorgeNo one ever heard of the truth being enforced by law. When the secular is called in to sustain an idea, whether new or old, it is always a bad idea, and not infrequently it is downright idiotic.~ H. L. Mencken Jul 28, 2006Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains.~ Jean-Jacques RousseauBecause just as good morals, if they are to be maintained, have need of the laws, so the laws, if they are to be observed, have need of good morals.~ Niccolo MachiavelliIf you have 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.~ Sir Winston Churchill Jul 27, 2006It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known, and less fixed?~ James MadisonThe laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.~ John Quincy AdamsOne has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, but conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print