It is a fundamental principle of criminal law that an imputed offense must correspond exactly to the type of crime described by law. If no law applies exactly to the point in question, then there is no offense.
Fidel CastroI would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in 2012.
Ruth Bader GinsburgJust because you’ve seen ‚My Cousin Vinny‘ doesn’t qualify you to be a federal judge.
John KennedyA jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
Robert FrostNever stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.
Abraham LincolnJustice is what is established; and thus all our established laws will necessarily be regarded as just without examination, since they are established.
Blaise PascalEven when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered.
AristotlePolitics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.
Winston ChurchillOn the whole, we think of our consumers – other judges, lawyers, the public. The law that the Supreme Court establishes is the law that they must live by, so all things considered, it’s better to have it clearer than confusing.
Ruth Bader GinsburgJustice Scalia and I served together on the D.C. Circuit. So his votes are not surprising to me. What I like about him is that he’s very funny and very smart.
Ruth Bader GinsburgThe best interpreter of the law is custom.
Marcus Tullius CiceroLaw and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Due process should matter.
John KennedyThe jury consist of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer.
Robert FrostMost states in the union where the death penalty is theoretically on the books don’t have executions.
Ruth Bader GinsburgJudges ought to be more leaned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.
Francis BaconThe clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.
Dwight D. EisenhowerThe role of the intellectual cannot be to excuse the violence of one side and condemn that of the other.
Albert CamusLaw is always better than war.
Brian EnoThe place of justice is a hallowed place.
Francis BaconI do hope that some of my dissents will one day be the law.
Ruth Bader GinsburgNobody is above the law. Imagine if there allegations against Modi and he is the Prime Minister. Should the case not be pursued just because he has become the PM. It should not be so that it should be stopped. I am not above the law.
Narendra ModiJudges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office.
Ruth Bader GinsburgWhat people call impartiality may simply mean indifference, and what people call partiality may simply mean mental activity.
Gilbert K. ChestertonTo know the laws is not to memorize their letter but to grasp their full force and meaning.
Marcus Tullius CiceroNo law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.
PlatoJustice is expensive in America. There are no Free Passes… You might want to remember this, the next time you get careless and blow off a few Parking Tickets. They will come back to haunt you the next time you see a Cop car in your rear-view mirror.
Hunter S. ThompsonIt will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
James MadisonThe strictest law sometimes becomes the severest injustice.
Benjamin FranklinLaw, without force, is impotent.
Blaise PascalThere is no person in this room whose basic rights are not involved in any successful defiance to the carrying out of court orders.
Dwight D. EisenhowerIf you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law.
Winston ChurchillWhen police or prosecutors conceal significant exculpatory or impeaching material, we hold, it is ordinarily incumbent on the state to set the record straight.
Ruth Bader GinsburgYou’re innocent until proven guilty.
John KennedyI was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
Groucho MarxAnd whether you’re an honest man, or whether you’re a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.
Benjamin FranklinWhoever has witnessed another’s ideal becomes his inexorable judge and as it were his evil conscience.
Friedrich NietzscheHow accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.
A. P. J. Abdul KalamThe one great principle of English law is to make business for itself.
Charles Dickens‚Do you spell it with a ‚V‘ or a ‚W‘?‘ inquired the judge. ‚That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord‘.
Charles DickensJudge: a law student who marks his own examination-papers.
H. L. MenckenArizona presents no specific reason for excepting capital defendants from the constitutional protections extended to defendants generally, and none is readily apparent.
Ruth Bader GinsburgIt’s hard not to have a big year at the Supreme Court.
Ruth Bader GinsburgThe 14th Amendment was recognized right away to be problematic. The concept of person was both too narrow and too broad, and the courts went to work to overcome both of those flaws.
Noam ChomskyBad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
Edmund BurkeLaws, like houses, lean on one another.
Edmund BurkeThe best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.
Abraham LincolnLaws should be interpreted in a liberal sense so that their intention may be preserved.
Marcus Tullius CiceroI think most defense attorneys know, to some extent, their clients are guilty.
Matthew McConaugheyI cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.
Winston ChurchillJustice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both.
Eleanor RooseveltIt is only an auctioneer who can equally and impartially admire all schools of art.
Oscar WildeI get very little sleep when the court is sitting.
Ruth Bader GinsburgMore law, less justice.
Marcus Tullius CiceroSome may remember, if you have good memories, that there used to be a concept in Anglo-American law called a presumption of innocence, innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Now that’s so deep in history that there’s no point even bringing it up, but it did once exist.
Noam ChomskyThe greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended-and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.
Robert FrostI hope that a move toward clemency with Judge Afiuni would be a step towards the importance of maintaining a properly functioning justice system.
Noam ChomskyLaw is mind without reason.
AristotleNone of my peers avoided prison. None of ‚em.
Nipsey HussleFree speech has been used by the Supreme Court to give immense power to the wealthiest members of our society.
Noam Chomsky