Of Laws.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Political Thoughts and Reflections
“What is a law, if those who make it
Become the forwardest to break it?”
The Wolf and Shepherds (1776).
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James Beattie 18
Scottish poet, moralist and philosopher 1735–1803Related quotes
The American Leviathan: The Republic in the Machine Age (1931) co-written with William Beard, p. 39
Context: If this statement by Judge Cooley is true, and the authority for it is unimpeachable, then the theory that the Constitution is a written document is a legal fiction. The idea that it can be understood by a study of its language and the history of its past development is equally mythical. It is what the Government and the people who count in public affairs recognize and respect as such, what they think it is. More than this. It is not merely what it has been, or what it is today. It is always becoming something else and those who criticize it and the acts done under it, as well as those who praise, help to make it what it will be tomorrow.
2010s, Hard Truths: Law Enforcement (2015)
Attorney-General v. Sillem and others, "The Alexandra " (1864), 12 W. R. 258.
I will fart all I want to without being told not to.
Source: Linda Porter (2010) Mary Tudor: The First Queen. p. 26: To his half-sister Mary I of England, who was ignoring his anti-Catholic laws. Greenwich, 28 January, 1551.