People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that when people feel oppressed by laws, they may turn to power as their only source of hope and may resist those laws in return.
Thomas Babington Macaulay highlights the relationship between law and power, suggesting that individuals or groups who feel oppressed by the legal system often lose faith in the law and see power as their last refuge. When laws act as barriers to justice or fairness, those affected may become adversarial towards the very laws intended to govern them, indicating a cycle of conflict between power and legal authority.
In practice
This quote could be used in a courtroom debate about the fairness of the legal system.
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