William Howard Taft Quotes

There is no such thing as justice—in or out of court.

The purpose of a jury is to guard against the exercise of arbitrary power—to make available the commonsense judgment of the community as a hedge against the over- zealous or mistaken prosecutor and in preference to the professional or perhaps overconditioned or biased response of a judge.

We do not sit like a kadi under a tree dispensing justice according to considerations of individual expediency

In the Halls of Justice, the only justice is in the halls.

I have faith in the judicial system.

Do not be merciful, but be just, for mercy is bestowed upon the guilty criminal, while Justice is all that the innocent man requires.

Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.

This is the time that I really miss being in my courtroom because I believe that that's the last place in this country where there's supposed to be fairness.

The goal is justice, not executions. We all want to make sure the process is fair and that the right person is punished. These recommendations are essential to that goal.

But one way or another, judges perform a very vital function in our society. They have a risky job and they are entitled to security.

You have been tried by twelve good men and true, not of your peers but as high above you as heaven is of hell, and they have said you are guilty.

The judge is not the knight-errant, roaming at will in pursuit of his own ideal of beauty or of goodness.

The United States and the European Union do want to have a rule of law, and that rule of law should be for a fair trial. And that fair trial needs to have an impartial jury.

I tried to decide each case based on the law and the Constitution.

That's the whole point of... of prosecutorial discretion in the judicial system. It's finding a just outcome in an individual case.

That justice should be administered between men, it is necessary that testimonies of fact be alleged; and that witnesses should apprehend themselves greatly obliged to discover the truth, according to their conscience, in dark and doubtful cases.

I know a lot of law officers, and every single one of them faces a moment - usually after about three hours on the job - when they realise that there's no connection between law and justice. The law, as an institution, avoids justice, subverts it, just as often as it sees it done.

The job of a justice is justice.

Let them bring me prisoners, and I’ll find them law.

Courts, not mobs, must execute the penalties of the law.

Justice is determined by the personality of the judges.

The wheels of justice sometimes turn slowly, but happily they turn.

The law itself is on trial in every case as well as the cause before it.

I established law and justice in the land.

Justice must be seen to be done.