Bernhard Schlink Quotes

The study of law is, after all, largely the study of history.

I guess law was always interesting to me because you deal with constants. I like to deal with constants, abstracts, constants and reason and ration, rational approaches to things. I don't know, I never really thought why I wanted to study law. But if you ask me whether I would do it again, absolutely.

Law is not a science, but is essentially empirical.

There is nothing certain in the principles of jurisprudence.

Bad facts make bad law.

The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.

Our lady the Common Law is a very wise old lady though she still has something to learn in telling what she knows.

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.

Law is a bottomless pit.

Law is a bottomless pit, it is a cormorant, a Harpy that devours everything.

I like the law. I like the part that's about reasoning, about persuasion, about telling stories, about trying to build structures that fall within rules.

The rules and principles of case law have never been treated as final truths but as working hypotheses, continually retested in those great laboratories of the law, the courts of justice. Every new case is an experiment, and if the accepted rule which seems applicable yields a result which is felt to be unjust, the rule is reconsidered.

Law builds upon and, I should like to claim, is one of the liberal arts. It uses words of persuasion and changing definitions for practical ends.

It's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases, it's the law.

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

Law is a formless mass of isolated decisions.

I'm not interested in culture; I'm interested in the law.

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

Law is largely crystallized custom.

You’ve got to expect that there will be twists and turns [in court opinions], especially with major doctrine.

The law sometimes sleeps; it never dies.

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.

Being a lawyer, it's like holding a key card to a parallel dimension of rule sets in the world, and it's lovely to make sure that key continues to work and to continue to brush up on the law every so often.

Our role as judges is to interpret the law.

Good lawyering is usually cerebral and impersonally. You can convince a judge with a mastery of facts, detail, and precedent - not a story from the gut about how you feel a certain way.