James Madison Quotes
Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.
Madison, James. "The Federalist No. 10." The Federalist, edited by Jacob E. Cooke, Wesleyan University Press, 1961, p. 57.
Sealed under duress and later repudiated by the King with Papal assistance.
Jefferson had just won a bitter, partisan election, and this was his attempt to reach out to the Federalist minority whose newspapers had been predicting that a Jefferson victory would bring a tyranny of the majority.
This quotation appears on several courthouses in the United States.
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.
James Madison Jr. was an American statesman, diplomat, expansionist, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the United States Bill of Rights. He co-wrote The Federalist Papers, co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party, and served as the fifth United States Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809.
