Great Throughts Treasury

"(Corporations) They cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicate, for they have no souls."

"The house of every man is his castle, and if thieves come to a man’s house to rob or murder, and the owner or his servants kill any of the thieves in defense of himself and his house, it is no felony and he lose nothing."

"Reason and authority, the two brightest lights of the world."

"Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason."

"A word must become a friend or you will not understand it. Perhaps you do well to be cool and detached when you are seeking information, but I remind you of the wife who complained, 'When I ask John if he loves me, he thinks I am asking for information'."

"And the law, that is the perfection of reason, cannot suffer anything that is inconvenient."

"Certainty is the mother of quiet and repose, and uncertainty the cause of variance and contentions."

"Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls."

"Every libel, which is called famosus libellus, is made either against a private man, or against a public person. If it be against a private man, it deserves a severe punishment."

"For a man’s house is his castle, for where shall a man be safe, if it be not in his house?"

"Fraud and deceit abound in these days more than in former times."

"He is not cheated who knows he is being cheated."

"A man's house is his castle."

"Hell is paved with good intentions."

"Hope is a waking dream."

"How long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law."

"It is better, saith the law, to suffer a mischief that is peculiar to one, than an inconvenience that may prejudice many"

"It is commonly said, that three things be favored in law; life, liberty, and dower."

"Magna Charta is such a fellow, that he will have no sovereign."

"Of every custom there be two essential parts, time and usage; time out of mind, (as shall be said hereafter) and continual and peaceable usage without lawful interruption."

"One threatens the innocent who spares the guilty."

"Only this incident inseparable every custom must have, viz., that it be consonant to reason; for how long soever it hath continued, if it be against reason, it is of no force in law."

"Ratio est anima legis; for then are we said to know the law, when we apprehend the reason of the law; that is, when we bring the reason of the law so to our owne reason, that wee perfectly understand it as our owne; and then, and never before, we have such an excellent and inseparable propertie and ownership therein, as wee can neither lose it, nor any man take it from us, and will direct us (the learning of the law is so chained together) in many other cases. But if by your studie and industrie you make not the reason of the law your owne, it is not possible for you long to retaine it in youre memorie."

"Often do the spirits of great events stride on before the events, and in to-day already walks to-morrow."

"It is therefore necessary that memorable things should be committed to writing, and not wholly betaken i. e., committed to slippery memory which seldom yields a certain reckoning."

"Law is the safest helmet."

"Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven; Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven"

"Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason - the law which is perfection of reason."

"Success in crime always invites to worse deeds."

"So use your own property as not to injure that of another."

"The gladsome light of jurisprudence."

"The Common lawes of the Realme should by no means be delayed for the law is the surest sanctuary, that a man should take, and the strongest fortresse to protect the weakest of all, lex et tutissima cassis."

"The cause ceasing, the effect ceases also."

"The home to everyone is to him his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence, as for his repose."

"The Law ... is perfection of reason."

"The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law."

"The law compells no man to impossible things. The argument ab impossibili is forcible in law. The home to everyone is to him his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence, as for his repose."

"The reason of the law is the life of the law; for though a man can tell the law, yet if he know not the reason thereof, he shall soone forget his superficial knowledge. But when he findeth the right reason of the law, and so bringeth it to his natural reason, that he comprehendeth it as his own, this will not only serve him for the understanding of that particular case, but of many others; for cognitio legis est copulata et complicata; and this knowledge will long remaine with him."

"There be three kinds of unhappie men. 1. He that hath knowledge and teacheth not. 2. He that teacheth, and liveth not thereafter. 3. He that knoweth not, and doth not enquire to understand."

"There is no jewel in the world comparable to learning; no learning so excellent both for Prince and subject, as knowledge of laws; and no knowledge of any laws so necessary for all estates and for all causes, concerning goods, lands or life, as the common laws of England."

"Things are worth what they will fetch at a sale."

"We have a maxim in the House of Commons, and written on the walls of our houses, that old ways are the safest and surest ways."

"Though the bribe be small, yet the fault is great."

"Those who consent to the act and those who do it shall be equally punished."

"We should speak as the populace but think as the learned."

"Where there are many counselors there is safety."

"You should trust any man in his own art provided he is skilled in it."