Unjust Law Quotes

There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.

One-half of the people of this nation to-day are utterly powerless to blot from the statute books an unjust law, or to write there a new and a just one.

A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up the state's segregation laws was democratically elected?

Every law must be just in every part of it, but if the penalty annexed be unjust, how can it be held forth as a just law?

If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence … and the courts must abide by that decision.

No intelligent man has any respect for an unjust law.

In the first place, an unjust law exists in this Commonwealth, by which marriages between persons of different color is pronounced illegal. I am perfectly aware of the gross ridicule to which I may subject myself by alluding to this particular; but I have lived too long, and observed too much, to be disturbed by the world's mockery.

Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.

There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation.

Extreme law is often extreme injustice.

I am ashamed the law is such an ass

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for a breach is more so.

There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

This relic of antiquity ... is now distinguished only by its absurdity and its gross deflection of public morals.... It is worse than useless... .We hope that our Legislature will soon put an end to this ridiculous farce.

There comes a time when a moral man can't obey a law which his conscience tells him is unjust.

There are two types of laws: there are just laws and there are unjust laws... What is the difference between the two?...An unjust law is a man-made code that is out of harmony with the moral law.

One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it.

Thus, if there exists a law which sanctions slavery or monopoly, oppression or robbery, in any form whatever, it must not even be mentioned. For how can it be mentioned without damaging the respect which it inspires? Still further, morality and political economy must be taught from the point of view of this law; from the supposition that it must be a just law merely because it is a law. Another effect of this tragic perversion of the law is that it gives an exaggerated importance to political passions and conflicts, and to politics in general.

Of the unjust rights which in virtue of this ceremony an iniquitous law gives me over the person and property of another, I cannot legally, but I can morally, divest myself.

I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy. You can only punish. I warn you that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys everyone it touches - its upholders as well as its defiers.

I had fought against the unjust restriction of immigration.

It seems to me that an unjust law is no law at all.

Thoreau points out clearly that civil disobedience gets its moral authority by the willingness to suffer the penalties from disobeying a law, even if you think that law is unjust.

If the law is a bad law, there is always the contingent right to take action that you would not otherwise take.