Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon: Quotes about laws

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon was British Baron. Explore interesting quotes on law.
Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon: 184   quotes 0   likes

“We must not, by any whimsical conceits supposed to be adapted to the altering fashions of the times, overturn the established law of the land: it descended to us as a sacred charge, and it is our duty to preserve it.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Clayton v. Adams (1796), 6 T. R. 605.

Law , Fashion , Time

“Sitting in a Court of law, I can receive no evidence but what comes under the sanction of an oath.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Wright v. Barnard (1797), 2 Esp. 701.

Law

“With regard to the construction of statutes according to the intention of the legislature, we must remember that there is an essential difference between the expounding of modern and ancient Acts of Parliament. In early times the legislature used (and I believe it was a wise course to take) to pass laws in general and in few terms; they were left to the Courts of law to be construed so as to reach all the cases within the mischief to be remedied. But in modern times great care has been taken to mention the particular cases in the contemplation of the legislature, and therefore the Courts are not permitted to take the same liberty in construing them as they did in expounding the ancient statutes.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Bradley and another v. Clark (1793), 5 T. R. 201.

Law , Time

“There are many situations in life, and particularly in the commercial world, where a man cannot by any diligence inform himself of the degree of credit which ought to be given to the persons with whom he deals; in which cases he must apply to those whose sources of intelligence enable them to give that information. The law of prudence leads him to apply to them, and the law of morality ought to induce them to give the information required.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Pasley v. Freeman (1789), 3 T. R. 51.

Life , World , Law , Intelligence

“It is a rule that those who come into a Court of justice to seek redress, must come with clean hands, and must disclose a transaction warranted by law.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Petrie v. Hannay (1789), 3 T. R. 422.

Justice , Law

“All laws stand on the best and broadest basis which go to enforce moral and social duties.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Pasley v. Freeman (1789), 3 T. R. 51.

Law

“Courts of equity make their decrees so as to arrive at the justice of the case without violating the rules of law.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Clayton v. Adams (1796), 6 T. R. 605.

Justice , Law

“The natural leaning of our minds is in favour of prisoners; and in the mild manner in which the laws of this country are executed, it has rather been a subject of complaint by some that the Judges have given way too easily to mere formal objections on behalf of prisoners, and have been too ready on slight grounds to make favourable representations of their cases. Lord Hale himself, one of the greatest and best men who ever sat in judgment, considered this extreme facility as a great blemish, owing to which more offenders escaped than by the manifestation of their innocence." We must, however, take care not to carry this disposition too far, lest we loosen the bands of society, which is kept together by the hope of reward, and the fear of punishment. It has been always considered, that the Judges in our foreign possessions abroad were not bound by the rules of proceeding in our Courts here. Their laws are often altogether distinct from our own. Such is the case in India and other places. On appeals to the Privy Council from our colonies, no formal objections are attended to, if the substance of the matter or the corpus delicti sufficiently appear to enable them to get at the truth and justice of the case.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

King v. Suddis (1800), 1 East, 314. Lord Kenyon is later reported to have written, "I once before had occasion to refer to the opinion of a most eminent Judge, who was a great Crown lawyer, upon the subject, I mean Lord Hale; who even in his time lamented the too great strictness which had been required in indictments, and which had grown to be a blemish and inconvenience in the law; and observed that more offenders escaped by the over easy ear given to exceptions in indictments than by their own innocence". King v. Airey (c. 1800), 2 East, 34.

Men , Truth , Fear , Justice

“He had no right to take the law into his own hands.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Tarleton v. McGawley (1795), 2 Peake, N. P. Ca. 208

Law

“It is a maxim in our law that a plaintiff must shew that he stands on a fair ground when he calls on a Court of justice to administer relief to him.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Booth v. Hodgson (1795), 6 T. R. 409.

Justice , Law

“The practice of the Court forms the law of the Court.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Wilson v. Rastall (1792), 4 T. R. 757.

Law

“The wishes of every human man are, that guilt may not be fixed upon any man; but I confess I am one of those who have not the weakness—which weakness, a Judge at least, and a jury, must get rid of, before they fit themselves to fill the respective stations which they are to fill in the administration of the justice of the country— I say, therefore, I am not one of those who wish under false compassion, inconsistent with the administration of criminal justice, that a person on whom guilt is fairly fixed, should escape the punishment which the law annexes to his guilt.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Stone's Case (1796), 25 How. St. Tr. 1423.

Justice , Law , Personality , Falseness

“Proceedings at law are sufficiently expensive.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Marriott v. Hampton (1797), 2 Esp. 548.

Law

“The liberty of the press has always been, and has justly been, a favourite topic with Englishmen. They have looked at it with jealousy whenever it has been invaded; and though a licenser was put over the press, and was suffered to exist for some years after the coming of William, and after the revolution, yet the reluctant spirit of English liberty called for a repeal of that law; and from that time to this it has not been shackled and limited more than it ought to be.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Case of John Lambert and others (1793), 22 How. St. Tr. 1016.

Jealousy , Law , Suffering , Time

“The common law, though not to be found in the written records of the realm, yet has been long well known. It is coeval with civilised society itself, and was formed from time to time by the wisdom of man. Good sense did not come with the Conquest, or at any other one time, but grew and increased from time to time with the wisdom of mankind.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Rex v. Rusby (1800), Peake's N. P. Cases, 193.

Wisdom , Law , Sense , Time

“No stops are ever inserted in Acts of Parliament, or in deeds; but the Courts of law, in construing them, must read them with such stops as will give effect to the whole.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Doe d. Willis and others v. Martin and others (1790), 4 T. R. 65.

Law , Reading

“It was said by a very learned Judge, Lord Macclesfield, towards the beginning of this century that the most effectual way of removing land marks would be by innovating on the rules of evidence; and so I say. I have been in this profession more than forty years, and have practised both in Courts of law and equity; and if it had fallen to my lot to form a system of jurisprudence, whether or not I should have thought it advisable to establish two different Courts with different jurisdictions, and governed by different rules, it is not necessary to say. But, influenced as I am by certain prejudices that have become inveterate with those who comply with the systems they found established, I find that in these Courts proceeding by different rules a certain combined system of jurisprudence has been framed most beneficial to the people of this country, and which I hope I may be indulged in supposing has never yet been equalled in any other country on earth. Our Courts of law only consider legal rights: our Courts of equity have other rules, by which they sometimes supersede those legal rules, and in so doing they act most beneficially for the subject. We all know that, if the Courts of law were to take into their consideration all the jurisdiction belonging to Courts of equity, many bad consequences would ensue. To mention only the single instance of legacies being left to women who may have married inadvertently: if a Court of law could entertain an action for a legacy, the husband would recover it, and the wife might be left destitute: but if it be necessary in such a case to go into equity, that Court will not suffer the husband alone to reap the fruits of the legacy given to the wife; for one of its rules is that he who asks equity must do equity, and in such a case they will compel the husband to make a provision for the wife before they will suffer him to get the money. I exemplify the propriety of keeping the jurisdictions and rules of the different Courts distinct by one out of a multitude of cases that might be adduced.... One of the rules of a Court of equity is that they cannot decree against the oath of the party himself on the evidence of one witness alone without other circumstances: but when the point is doubtful, they send it to be tried at law, directing that the answer of the party shall be read on the trial; so they may order that a party shall not set up a legal term on the trial, or that the plaintiff himself shall be examined; and when the issue comes from a Court of equity with any of these directions the Courts of law comply with the terms on which it is so directed to be tried. By these means the ends of justice are attained, without making any of the stubborn rules of law stoop to what is supposed to be the substantial justice of each particular case; and it is wiser so to act than to leave it to the Judges of the law to relax from those certain and established rules by which they are sworn to decide.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Bauerman v. Eadenius (1798), 7 T. R. 667.

Women , Money , People , Justice

“The popish religion is now unknown to the law of this country.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Du Barre v. Livette (1791), Peake's N. P. Cases, 79.

Religion , Law , Country

“It is our duty to take care that persons in pursuing their own particular interests do not transgress those laws which were made for the benefit of the whole community.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

King v. Waddington (1800), 1 East, 158.

Law , Communication , Personality

“It is of great importance that the laws by which the contracts of so numerous and so useful a body of men as the sailors are supposed to be guided, should not be overturned.”

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon

Cutter v. Powell (1795), 6 T. R. 320.

Men , Law