“Courts are apt to err by sticking too closely to the words of a law where those words import a policy that goes beyond them.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 469 (1928) (Holmes, J., dissenting).
1920s

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Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 107

United States Supreme Court justice 1841–1935

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“Courts are apt to err by sticking too closely to the words of a law where those words import a policy that goes beyond them.”

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Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 107

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