Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2012-02-08 Feb 8, 2012In the general course of human nature, A power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.~ Alexander HamiltonWhen we compare the laws made today and the method and purpose of their making, with those of the past, we find them to be in perfect harmony. It was the law and custom of the past to provide for a class of idlers, it was customary for the powerful to enslave the weak, for the rich to rob the poor, for the unscrupulous to make laws in their own interests, even as it is the law and custom today. Surely it must be evident that law does not have its basis in justice, but rather in custom. To both law and custom, justice is a total stranger.~ Charles T. SpradingThe superior man understands what is right. The inferior man understands what is popular.~ Confucius Feb 7, 2012Welfare rights are pseudo-rights: They rely on the force of law to take private property for the use of others without compensation and without consent. Public charity is forced charity; it is not a virtue but a vice.~ James A. DornLegislators and revolutionaries who promise equality and liberty at the same time are either psychopaths or mountebanks.~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe[N]o one’s ever been able to show me any difference between democracy and brute force. It’s just a majority ganging up on a minority with the minority giving in to avoid getting massacred.~ L. Neil Smith Feb 6, 2012The lesson that Americans today have forgotten or never learned -- the lesson which our ancestors tried so hard to teach -- is that the greatest threat to our lives, liberty, property, and security is not some foreign government, as our rulers so often tell us. The greatest threat to our freedom and well-being lies with our own government!.~ Jacob G. HornbergerLet Mr. Madison tell me when did liberty ever exist when the sword and the purse were given up from the people? Unless a miracle shall interpose, no nation ever did, nor ever can retain its liberty after the loss of the sword and the purse.~ Patrick Henry[It is not the purpose nor right of Congress] to attend to what generosity and humanity require, but to what the Constitution and their duty require.~ William Branch Giles Feb 3, 2012In “A jury’s duty” (11/8) by Mike Romano, John Junker asserts that juries have the right to nullify laws in principle but should not use this right in practice. Would he then be willing to give up the rights of free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, freedom to organize a labor union, abolition of slavery in the North, and the repeal of alcohol prohibition—all of which were given to us by juries who put the principle of nullification into practice? Without jury nullification no systematic veto exists for the people and tyranny ensues.~ Patricia Michl SumnerThe pages of history shine instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard uncontradicted evidence and instructions of the judge.~ U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia[T]he jury, as the conscience of the community, must be permitted to look at more than logic.~ U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit Feb 2, 2012Jurors should acquit, even against the judge’s instruction ... if exercising their judgment with discretion and honesty they have a clear conviction that the charge of the court is wrong.~ Andrew Hamilton[That] the Jury may determine the law and the fact of the case, has been supported by every English judge, except Chief Justice Jeffries .... And to their credit be it spoken that the Juries have always been right on fundamental questions of liberty and popular right.~ Georgia Supreme Court[T]he Jury have not only the power, but the right, to pass upon the law as well as the facts...~ Georgia Supreme Court Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print