How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning.
Jonathan SwiftRead
It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the legal principle that past decisions can influence future rulings, often at the expense of justice.
In this quote, Jonathan Swift criticizes the legal system's reliance on precedent, implying that lawyers often uphold unjust decisions simply because they were made in the past. Swift's observation highlights the danger of adhering strictly to historical rulings, which may contradict the fundamental principles of justice and common humanity. By emphasizing the importance of recording these precedents, he underscores the complexities of the law and its relationship with morality.
Themes
LawPrecedentJusticeCritiqueDecisions
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about legal reform, this quote could illustrate the need to reassess dated legal precedents.
More from Jonathan Swift
All quotes →What vexes me most is, that my female friends, who could bear me very well a dozen years ago, have now forsaken me, although I am not so old in proportion to them as I formerly was: which I can prove by arithmetic, for then I was double their age, which now I am not. Letter to Alexander Pope. 7 Feb. 1736.
Jonathan SwiftRead
This is every cook's opinion - _x000D_ no savory dish without an onion, _x000D_ but lest your kissing should be spoiled _x000D_ your onions must be fully boiled.
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The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking.
Jonathan SwiftRead
This single Stick, which you now behold ingloriously lying in that neglected Corner, I once knew in a flourishing State in a Forest: It was full of Sap, full of Leaves, and full of Boughs: But now, in vain does the busy Art of Man pretend to vie with Nature, by tying that withered Bundle of Twigs to its sapless Trunk: It is at best but the Reverse of what it was; a Tree turned upside down, the Branches on the Earth, and the Root in the Air.
Jonathan SwiftRead
I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.
Jonathan SwiftRead
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