Edward Coke Quotes

The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.

Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained.

Law is not a science, but is essentially empirical.

My job is to interpret the law based on how the legislature and the court has done it and then, of course, to use our system of justice to develop some new legal tools and new concepts.

It is the merit of the common law that it decides the case first and determines the principles afterward.

What is today supported by precedents will hereafter become a precedent.

There is nothing certain in the principles of jurisprudence.

Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason....

Bad facts make bad law.

I had a very long discussion with Justice Gorsuch in my office, and he pointed out to me that he is a co-author of a whole book on precedent. So, someone who devotes that much time to writing a book on precedent, I think, understands how important a principle that is in our judicial system.

The most celebrated system of jurisprudence known to the world begins, as it ends, with a Code.

Law is largely crystallized custom.

Legal doctrines ... derive meaning and content from the circumstances that gave rise to them and from the purposes they were designed to serve. To these they are bound as is a live tree to its roots

It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law.

I think justices of all stripes agree that stare decisis is important, but not an inextricable command. It's not inflexible; it's not absolute.

Reason is the Soul of the Law.

I take judge-made law as one of the existing realities of life.

Laws are subordinate to custom.

One precedent creates another and they soon accumulate and constitute law. What yesterday was a fact, today is doctrine.

What I really like about law is that it's not an endless discourse like history or philosophy. In law, there comes a point where problems have to be solved, and cases decided.

It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.

Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason - the law which is perfection of reason.

One precedent creates another. They soon accumulate and constitute law. What yesterday was fact, today is doctrine.

General propositions do not decide concrete cases.

Remember, that his duty and his business is, not to make the law but to interpret and apply it