Charles Bowen: Doing

Charles Bowen was English judge. Explore interesting quotes on doing.

Charles Bowen: 40 quotes0 likes

“... The fallacious use of the principle that you cannot look into a man's mind. It is said you cannot do that: therefore what follows? It is said that you are to have fixed rules to tell you that he must have meant something, one way or the other, when certain exterior phenomena arise. The answer is that there is no such thing as an absolute criterion which gives you certain index to a man's mind. There is nothing outside his mind which is an absolute indication of what is going on inside. So far from saying that you cannot look into a man's mind, you must look into it, if you are going to find fraud against him: and unless you think you see what must have been in his mind, you cannot find him guilty of fraud.”

Angus v. Clifford (1891), L. R. 2 C. D. [1891], p. 471.

“Courts do not exist for the sake of discipline, but for the sake of deciding matters in controversy.”

Cropper v. Smith (1884), L. R. 26 C. D. 710.

“Like my brothers who sit with me, I am extremely reluctant to decide anything except what is necessary for the special case, because I believe by long experience that judgments come with far more weight and gravity when they come upon points which the Judges are bound to decide, and I believe that obiter dicta, like the proverbial chickens of destiny, come home to roost sooner or later in a very uncomfortable way to the Judges who have uttered them, and are a great source of embarrassment in future cases. Therefore I abstain from putting a construction on more than it is necessary to do for this particular case.”

Cooke v. New River Co. (1888), L. R. 38 C. D. 70.