The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law.
Edward CokeRead
Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason - the law which is perfection of reason.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of reason as the foundation of law, suggesting that law embodies rational thought.
Edward Coke asserts that reason is essential to understanding law, indicating that the common law is fundamentally rooted in rationality. By describing law as the 'perfection of reason,' he suggests that true justice and legal principles must be derived from logical thought and rational deliberation, reflecting a deep connection between ethics, morality, and the judicial system.
In practice
In a legal seminar discussing the foundations of legal systems, this quote could illustrate the relationship between legal principles and rational thought.
The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law.
For a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium [and one's home is the safest refuge to everyone].
There be three kinds of unhappie men. 1. Qui scit & non docet, Hee that hath knowledge and teacheth not. 2. Qui docet & non vivit, He that teacheth, and liveth not thereafter. 3. Qui nescit, & non interrogat, He that knoweth not, and doth not enquire to understand.
No man can be a compleat Lawyer by universalitie of knowledge without experience in particular cases, nor by bare experience without universalitie of knowledge; he must be both speculative & active, for the science of the laws, I assure you, must joyne hands with experience.
It is the worst oppression, that is done by colour of justice
So as grave and learned men may doubt, without any imputation to them; for the most learned doubteth most, and the more ignorant for the most part are the more bold and peremptory.
I'm inclined to reserve all judgement, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men.
If we are not fully ourselves, truly in the present moment, we miss everything.
When a private talk over a bottle of wine is broadcast on the radio, what can it mean but that the world is turning into a concentration camp?
We want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect but how we should pray being as we now are ... It is no use to ask God with factitious earnestness for A when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for B. We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.
My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.
Many things I might not write today because I no longer believe them, but I wouldn't change them, since I believed them at the time.
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