I.I
Men have three fates: what they are due by honor, what they are due by law, and what God has ordained. The wise man twists all three into a rope across time. The fool is undone in this life by the law, the clever man by God's ordinances in the next.
I.II
The practice of law is not about the application of reason to evidence, but rather the application of tastes and passions to spectacle.
I.III
A just act violates no law, even if it violates a statute.
I.IV
Our judges dispense justice as nothing more or less than due process. More learned people, that is everyone else, think justice is a prudential outcome.
I.V
Would a judge be happy if, upon his death, the funeral rites were performed according to due processes - but no one mourned his passing?
I.VI
Wicked lawyers are monopolists of sophistry and corruption. Decent lawyers are broke.
I.VII
Statutes are not laws. Laws are the unwritten customs and practices of the people. Statutes are written and designed. Laws emerge, and while they are made by men, they are not designed.
I.VIII
Suppose a prosecutor charges a man with speeding, 50.01 mph in a 50 mph zone. Has he violated the statues? Yes. But has he violated the laws? No.
I.IX
Human action cannot be reduced to rules. Morality cannot be reduced to rules. Justice cannot be reduced to rules. Statutes are rules.
I.X
The ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box are the means to preserve justice and the laws against the statutes.