The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Elizabeth Fry2 quotes
Does capital punishment tend to the security of the people? By no means. It hardens the hearts of men, and makes the loss of life appear light to them; and it renders life insecure, inasmuch as the law holds out that property is of greater value than life. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. — Elizabeth Fry · 1848George Savile, Lord Halifax2 quotes
Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750Wherever a knave is not punished, an honest man is laughed at. — George Savile, Lord Halifax · 1750Robert H. Jackson2 quotes
The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who posses themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched. — Robert H. Jackson · 1945The first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. — Robert H. Jackson · 1945William Blackstone2 quotes
All presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously; for the law holds, that it is better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent suffer. — William Blackstone · 1769The offense of riding or going armed, with dangerous or unusual weapons, is a crime against the public peace, by terrifying the good people of the land. — William Blackstone · 1769Dave Chappelle1 quote
Every black dude in this room is a qualified paralegal and shit. He knows the law. If one of us even start to do something wrong, an old black man would pop out of nowhere. Nigga, don’t do that. That’s 5 to 10. — Dave Chappelle · 2000Earl Warren1 quote
Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. — Earl Warren · 1966Learned Hand1 quote
Our procedure has been always haunted by the ghost of the innocent man convicted. It is an unreal dream. What we need to fear is the archaic formalism and the watery sentiment that obstructs, delays, and defeats the prosecution of crime. — Learned Hand · 1923Publilius Syrus1 quote
The judge is condemned when the guilty party is acquitted. — Publilius Syrus · 43 BC