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
What this quote means
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.
Themes
LawReasonJusticePhilosophyRationality
In practice
Example use cases
In a legal seminar discussing the foundations of legal systems, this quote could illustrate the relationship between legal principles and rational thought.
More from Edward Coke
All quotes βFor a man's house is his castle, et domus sua cuique tutissimum refugium [and one's home is the safest refuge to everyone].
Edward CokeRead
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.
Edward CokeRead
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.
Edward CokeRead
It is the worst oppression, that is done by colour of justice
Edward CokeRead
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.
Edward CokeRead
Similar quotes
I have named the destroyers of nations: comfort, plenty, and security - out of which grow a bored and slothful cynicism, in which rebellion against the world as it is, and myself as I am, are submerged in listless self-satisfaction.
John SteinbeckRead
When you're out of your own cultural context you have conversations with yourself that you just don't have at any other point in your life. When you're in a hotel room on the border between India and Nepal you can really discover things about yourself.
David MitchellRead
Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent.
Ramana MaharshiRead
As long as we think abstractly, as long as we find in patriotism and the exuberance of War our fulfillment, we will never understand those who do battle against us, or how we are perceived by them, or finally those who do battle for us and how we should respond to it all. We will never discover who we are. We will fail to confront the capacity we all have for violence.
Chris HedgesRead
And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.
James MadisonRead
Though dreams can be deceiving; like faces are to hearts, they serve for sweet relieving, when fantasy and reality lie too far apart.
Fiona AppleRead