Arthur T. Hadley Quotes

If any considerable number of citizens who are generally law abiding think that some particular statute is bad enough in itself or dangerous enough in its indirect effects to make it worthwhile to block its enforcement, they can do so.

People are, well, only human. We know that. The rule of law is borne out in identifying, condemning, and punishing those who violate the standards on which we all agree. This is exactly what we do in America.

Good laws are the offspring of bad actions.

In keeping people straight, principle is not as powerful as a policeman.

The more laws the more offenders

We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws.

Crime and punishment grow out of one stem.

If pimps and thieves everywhere were always punished, honest people would all believe themselves always to be innocent.

I rank myself no higher in the scheme of things than a policeman - whose utility would disappear if there were no criminals.

In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes. Man's ultimate responsibility is to God alone.

I shall support the law, for the law gentlemen, is the firm and solid basis of civil society, the guardian of liberty, the protection of the innocent, the terror of the guilty, and the scourge of the wicked.

If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.

No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man's permission when we ask him to obey it.

It is better that a guilty man should not be brought to trial than that he should be acquitted.

In the criminal justice system, the law-abiding citizen comes first.

The country is being flooded with illegal liquor and that either Congress will need to modify the law or spend incalculable sums to enforce it [Prohibition].

What is crime among the multitude is only vice among the few.

The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and speedy justice is decreasing.

We are ruled by public opinion, not by statute law.

The magistrate has the right to enforce what he thinks, and he who is conscious of the truth has a right to suffer.

Order is said to exist where the people of the country have, as a general rule, ceased to prosecute their quarrels by private force, and acquired the habit of referring the decision of their disputes and the redress of their injuries to the public authorities.

The one among you who violates the law is the worst enemy you have.

In all governments fear is recognized as one of the grounds for the enforcement of law. In even the freest nations and under the highest form of civilization the public opinion that administers law makes its demand partly in the interest of essential right, partly with the instinct of self-preservation against the forces of evil, and partly for the punishment of wrong. Punishment in itself is not reformatory; it is retributive; it is deterrent; it plays upon fear.

The most malign of all these dangers today is disregard and disobedience of law. Crime is increasing. Confidence in rigid and speedy justice is decreasing. I am not prepared to believe that this indicates any decay in the moral fiber of the American people. I am not prepared to believe that it indicates an impotence of the Federal Government to enforce its laws.

The net of law is spread so wide, No sinner from its sweep may hide. Its meshes are so fine and strong They take in every child of wrong. O wondrous web of mystery ! Big fish alone escape from thee !