One of the problems of our society is that we spend too much time thinking about punishment and not enough about prevention.
Roy Hattersley 17/12/1990
Category: Justice & Sentencing, Rule of Law
The internal peace of every country depends upon the knowledge that force is available to uphold law.
Edward Grey
Category: Rule of Law
Law is, of course, in a sense, no more than a gigantic confidence trick. If enough people did not obey the law it would be totally unenforceable.
Lord Hailsham
Category: Rule of Law
I may be a Tory - I may be an illiberal -but the fact is undeniable, that when I first entered upon the duties of the Home Department, there were laws in existence which imposed upon the subjects of this realm unuasual and extraordinary restrictions.
Robert Peel 01/05/1827
Category: Rule of Law
It being thus manifest that the power of kings and magistrates is nothing else but what is only derivative, transferred, and committed to them in trust from the people to the common good of them all.
John Milton 1649
Category: Rule of Law
I authorise and give up my right of governing myself, to this man, or to this assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy right to him, and authorise all his actions in like manner.
Thomas Hobbes 1651
Category: Rule of Law
How could a state be governed if every individual remained free to obey or not to obey the law according to his private opinion?
Thomas Hobbes 1651
Category: Rule of Law
In every government there are three sorts of power: the legislative; the executive in respect to things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive in regard to matters that depend on the civil law.
Baron de Montesquieu 1748
Category: What is Government, Rule of Law
The legal system we have and the rule of law are far more responsible for our traditional liberties than any system of one man one vote. Any country or Government which wants to proceed towards tyranny starts to undermine legal rights and undermine the law.
Margaret Thatcher 10/1966
Category: Rule of Law
