Alan Dershowitz Quotes
Every lawsuit results from somebody doing something wrong. If everybody did right, we wouldn't need laws.
The Visigoth king was, like other kings all powerful but within certain traditions. Whereas other kings were crowned with a concept of Divine Right, the Visigoth king’s reign was formally contingent on his performance.
Generally we make laws to try and stop bad actions. Without the bad actions, there would generally be no laws.
If there is no rule of law, the executive, king or strongman, may handle any case in any way he wants. He can convict a poor man but let a powerful friend off. However, with the rule of law, it is the facts of the case that control, and not the identity of the law breaker. Hence the ancient Romans were somewhat suspicious of the rule of law in that it could tie the hands of the executive or magistrate and limit his discretion. To a certain extent, even modern America does not follow a completely rule of law system. The “out” is prosecutorial discretion. The prosecutors can charge one party and not bother to do so with others. An example was in 2010 when there were many bank foreclosures on home mortgages, the major banks of America were commonly committing fraud and perjury by executing legal documents allowing the forclosure, claiming that the had required documents and had done required procedure when the officers who signed the official documents had no idea what they had and just lied. The Banks had large lobbying resources, and despite the fact that felonies were committed by the tens of thousands, none of the felons was ever charged with a crime, for if they were, they were clearly guilty and there would be severe consequences. The banks promised never to do it again, and got off with none of the many guilty people ever convicted.
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law, and for controversial political views.
