"Rule of law" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Excellency further, however, with an argument of the question, I will content myself with stating what I believe to be the true rule of law, and it is this:—A belligerent ship of war cannot increase her armament or her crew in a neutral port, nor supply herself with ammunition; but with these exceptions she may procure whatever ...
— The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter • Raphael Semmes
... go they shall have neither more nor less than the justice I am trying to do to Mr. Foote; and if they offend the Blasphemy Laws they shall find that so long as these laws exist—whatever I may think about their wisdom—they will have but one rule of law laid down ...
— Prisoner for Blasphemy • G. W. [George William] Foote
... precisely assigned; but it is sufficient that there be nothing in the rule flatly contradictory to reason, and then the law will presume it to be well founded[p]. And it hath been an antient observation in the laws of England, that whenever a standing rule of law, of which the reason perhaps could not be remembered or discerned, hath been wantonly broke in upon by statutes or new resolutions, the wisdom of the rule hath in the end appeared from the inconveniences ...
— Commentaries on the Laws of England - Book the First • William Blackstone
... economy, and respect for the native rights of property, is obtainable under conditions that are not strictly normal. If you want to ascertain whether your system will stand in all weathers, you must test it when the rule of law and order have replaced that of arbitrary will—when men present themselves, not as the scared recipients of bounty, but as the assertors of admitted rights. We shall see how far, in such piping times, it may be possible for the Governor-General to enforce on the British ...
— Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin • James, Eighth Earl of Elgin
... said, "initiated the rule of law," as distinct from despotism, whether personal or tempered by routine, of the Norman kings. And now the despotic barons began gradually to be shorn of their power, and the dungeons of their "Adulterine" ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson
... Essay is not so much in any light it throws on the mystery of volition, as on the striking and brilliant way in which the limitations of the individual and the inexplicable rule of law are illustrated. ...
— Ralph Waldo Emerson • Oliver Wendell Holmes
... distinction between them is in the mode of proof. The mutual understanding of the parties to a verbal contract may be proved by parol evidence. But as the real intention of parties is more likely to be expressed in a written contract, the rule of law is, that parol evidence may not be admitted to contradict or vary the terms of a written instrument. It may however be admitted to explain what is doubtful, or to supply ...
— The Government Class Book • Andrew W. Young
... is offered to me, submission under which is to tarnish my character for ever with men of honour, ant for which the twelve judges of England, with the Chancellor to boot, can afford me no redress, by what rule of law or reason am I to be deterred from protecting what ought to be, and is, so infinitely dearer to every man of honour than his whole fortune? Of the religious views of the matter I shall say nothing, until I end a reverend divine who shall condemn self-defence in the ...
— Guy Mannering • Sir Walter Scott |
