The young [Thomas] More set out to acquire the basics of what had become an elaborately codified system of procedures and precedents. But first it was necessary to understand a new language, the language of the law, which was not simply a matter of terminology but also of tongue. English was used for general argument in the courts, while most of the statutes and writs were composed in Latin; but formal pleading, and the exercises known as ‘moots’, were conducted in a strange judicial vernacular called ‘Law French’. Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More
For thirty-one months Thomas More embodied the law of England. He was the presiding figure in Chancery and in the Star Chamber; he was known as ‘the keeper of the king’s conscience’ and, in that capacity, he was permitted to apply equity and more judgement in the strict application of the law. ibid. p287
A state is better governed which has few laws, and those laws strictly observed. Rene Descartes
You don’t ask; you don’t care. You just do the goddamn job. It’s not as if they’re your friends, for Christ’ sake. Primal Fear 1996 starring Edward Norton & Richard Gere & Laura Linney & John Mahoney & Alfre Woodard & Frances McDormand & Reg Rogers & Terry O’Quinn & Andre Braugher & Steven Bauer & Joe Spano et al, Gere in bar
You want me to respect the law? Then make the law respectable. Suffragette 2015 starring Helena Bonham Carter & Carey Mulligan & Meryl Streeo & Natalie Press & Annie-Marie Duff & Romola Garai & Ben Whisaw & Brendon Gleeson & Samuel West & Adrian Schiller et al, director Sarah Gavron, Suffragette
At the bottom this erodes the importance of the vote for people in this country … It prevents people using the ballot box … to change taxes and laws … We are being invited to give up those rights. Panorama, Tony Benn vs Roy Jenkins ***** with David Dimbleby, Benn, BBC 1975
Will destroy all that is most valuable in Britain. ibid.
Absolute sovereignty is nonsense. ibid. Jenkins
I think it’s about democracy. ibid. Benn
‘Pool our sovereignty.’ ibid. Jenkins
It would create jobs for our people – that was his [Heath] phrase. ibid. Benn
Common Market membership has been a disaster. ibid.
We’ve really got to have confidence in this country’s capacity to survive. ibid.
An economic and monetary union is a long way off … I think as a long-term objective, yes, it could be highly desirable. ibid. Jenkins
Tonight, two men – convicted murderers – who’ve always protested their innocence. Their last hope the Criminal Cases Review Commission but many believe it’s failing. We investigate cases the Commission has rejected and find evidence they overlooked. Panorama: Last Chance for Justice, BBC 2018
Last year it referred just 12 cases out of 1,500. ibid.
Eddie Gilfoyle: Another notorious murder case turned down by the CCRC. Eddie Gilfoyle spent 18 years inside and his case is one of the most bizarre in UK criminal history … ‘My brother has been convicted for a crime that didn’t happen.’ ibid.
‘The prosecution’s case is that before Eddie went to work he asked his wife Paula into the garage. Somehow Eddie had persuaded Paula to write a suicide letter in her own handwriting and asked her to walk up the ladder, put a rope around her neck and without any struggle or intoxication allow herself to be hung.’ ibid. Eddie’s solicitor
Key evidence was not disclosed. ibid.
These are the twelve justices who make up the supreme court … Their decisions affect everyone. The Highest Court in the Land: Justice Makers, BBC 2016
This court dispenses justice at the highest level. Everyone in the land is answerable to them. ibid.
Cases of particular general importance or constitutional issues will end up in the supreme court. ibid.
All the proceedings of the court are filmed. ibid.
It breaks your soul down … It takes your decency and respect. After Innocence, victim, 2005
For every one of us up here, there’s hundreds more in prison. ibid. victims meet the press
It could happen to anybody, and it did. ibid. Barry Scheck
They found four different sperms in her and none of them were mine. ibid. victim of false rape charge
Now through DNA we have hard evidence that there is a lot more mistakes being made than we ever expected. That means there are thousands of people in jail today who could prove their innocence with DNA tests. ibid. Barry Scheck on Phil Donahue Show
My lawyer was the worst lawyer on the planet. The only time I saw him was at court. ibid. victim of false rape charge #2
‘If you see your name with a title – Mr or Mrs, or they use our name in upper case – this is back to Admiralty law.’ Strawman: The Nature of the Cage, Jon Witterick, 2015
Bailiffs have no special legal rights. They cannot enter your home. They cannot obtain a warrant to enter your home. They cannot ask the police to enter on their behalf. ibid.
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme independent authority over your own flesh and blood human body or territory. ibid.
Paying your tax, getting a driver’s license, registering your car, paying fines and attending court are all optional … Your Strawman is a fictitious legal entity created at your birth through your birth certificate. ibid.
A company with your name was created through your birth certificate. ibid.
You are as slave and you are in a metaphorical cage. ibid.
If you haven’t broken any laws, no-one has the right to tell you what to do. ibid.
My father hated lawyers all his life. He wasn’t a great guy my old man: he drank and beat up my mother; he beat me up too. So you might think I became a lawyer just to piss him off. But you’d be wrong. I wanted to be a lawyer ever since I read about the civil rights lawyers in the ’50s and ’60s. And the amazing uses they found for the law. They did what a lot of people thought was impossible: they gave lawyers a good name. The Rainmaker 1998 starring Matt Damon & Claire Danes & Jon Voight & Mary Kay Place & Mickey Rourke & Danny DeVito & Dean Stockwell & Virginia Madsen & Randy Travis & Roy Scheider & Red West & Johnny Whitworth et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, Rudy
There are too many lawyers in Memphis; this city is infested with them. ibid.
There’s nothing more thrilling than nailing an insurance company. ibid. Deck
You boys attempted to interrogate a child outside the presence of his mother without her consent. The Client 1994 starring Susan Sarandon & Tommy Lee Jones & Brad Renfro & Mary-Louise Parker & David Speck & Anthony LaPaglia & J T Walsh & Anthony Heald & Bradley Whiteford & Anthony Edwards et al, director Joel Schumache, Reggie
You file those petitions and incarcerate his young ass tonight. ibid. Roy
He’s just a client. ibid. Judge
It never fails to amaze me what a man will do to get in the Oval Office. The Pelican Brief 1993 starring Julia Roberts & Denzel Washington & Sam Shepard & John Heard & Tony Goldwyn & James B Sikking & William Atherton & Robert Culp & Stanley Tucci & Hume Cronyn et al, director Alan J Pakula, Supreme Court judge
I think I stumbled across something in the office I wasn’t supposed to see. ibid. source to Grantham
This is a brief written by a eager-beaver Tulane law student … It implicates the White House. ibid. aide to president
If I get any trouble out of ya, I’m gonna integrate this jail. A Time to Kill 1996 starring Samuel L Jackson & Matthew McConaughey & Kevin Spacey & Sandra Bullock & Brenda Fricker & Oliver Platt & Charles S Dutton & Ashley Judd & Patrick McGoohan & Kiefer Sutherland & Donald Sutherland & John Diehl et al, director Joel Schumacher, black rozzer to two white rapists
I ain’t sorry for what I done … I figure there’s a lot of people out there tired of all the raping and killing. They’d be sympathetic to a man who took the law into his own hands even if he is black. ibid. Carl to Jake
We love fat women, people. Tight-fisted, unsympathetic, I want her on my jury. Runaway Jury 2003 starring John Cusack & Gene Hackman & Dustin Hoffman & Rachel Weisz & Jeremy Piven & Bruce Davidson & Bruce McGill & Marguerite Moreau & Nick Searcy & Leland Orser et al, director Gary Fleder, Fitch
Can you smell that? Furniture polish, cheap cologne and body odour. ibid. Fitch in court