Edward Coke Quotes

Every law is an infraction of liberty.

How long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law.

No, traditions and norms aren't rules in the Constitution. There's a difference between a tradition and a law.

I am often asked what it was like to be a woman clerking for Justice Scalia. 'Much like being a man clerking for him' is my easy answer. Justice Scalia believed in one simple principle: That law came to the court as an 'is,' not an 'ought.'

Ignorance of the law excuses no man.

The liberty to make our laws does not give us the freedom nor the license to break our laws!

The study of law can be disappointing at times, a matter of applying narrow rules and arcane procedure to an uncooperative reality; a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power--and that all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition. But that's not all the law is. The law is also memory; the law also records a long-running conversation, a nation arguing with its conscience.

Judge [Samuel] Alito has a reputation for being an exceptional and honest judge devoted to the rule of law, as well as being a man of integrity.

Every object and purpose of justice is effectually answered, and every supposed inconvenience is effectually rebutted by the law as it stands.

Law is error, you see. It's an attempt to write down a lot of things everyone ought to know anyway.

Possession is eleven points in the law.

Necessity gives the law and does not itself receive it.

People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort.

The law cannot save those who deny it but neither can the law serve any who do not use it. The history of injustice and inequality is a history of disuse of the law.

Unfortunately, I have to follow the law.

Some false representations contravene the law; some do not. The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business, and, besides, could not be done. The line between honesty and dishonesty is a narrow, shifting one and usually lets those get by that are the most subtle and already have more than they can use.

Law is par excellence the thing that wants a reason. Now the only possible way of accounting for the laws of nature, and for uniformity in general, is to suppose them results of evolution.

Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another decade.

Subdue By force, who reason for their law refuse, Right reason for their law.

One can't believe impossible things.

Law is nothing else but the best reason of wise men applied for ages to the transactions and business of mankind.

I wouldn't approach the issue of judging in the way the president does. Judges can't rely on what's in their heart. It's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases. It's the law.

Legislation may at times be disobeyed, but never law, for the breaking brings swift punishment of its own.

Reason is the life of the law.

A maxim in law has more weight in the world than an article of faith.