The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.
Interpretation
The integrity and fairness of the law is being evaluated alongside the specific case at hand.
This quote emphasizes that the legal system's principles, fairness, and execution are under scrutiny just as much as the specific issue being adjudicated. When a case is brought to trial, it not only assesses the validity of the arguments presented but also reflects the broader justice system's reliability and ethics.
In practice
In a discussion about legal reforms, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of accountability in the justice system.
If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural god-given unalienable or constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.
Today the god hypothesis has ceased to be scientifically tenable, has lost its explanatory value and is becoming an intellectual and moral burden to our thought. It no longer convinces or comforts, and its abandonment often brings a deep sense of relief.
Life is like a cash register, in that every account, every thought, every deed, like every sale, is registered and recorded.
Whoever is open, loyal, true; of humane and affable demeanour; honourable himself, and in his judgement of others; faithful to his word as to law, and faithful alike to God and man....such a man is a true gentleman.
If women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine rather than women?
Talk of the abuses of slavery! Humbug! The thing itself is the essence of all abuse!
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