12 quotes
Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe.
Laws, like houses, lean on one another.
I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against an whole people.
The cold neutrality of an impartial judge.
Preface to Brissot's Address (1794)
A good parson once said, that where mystery begins, religion ends. Cannot I say, as truly at least, of human laws, that where mystery begins, justice ends?
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
Justice is itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
The lawyers, as well as the theologians, have erected another reason besides natural reason; and the result has been, another justice besides natural justice.
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
Free trade is not based on utility but on justice.
Thoughts and Details on Scarcity (1795)
It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell me I ought to do.
He was one of those who wished for the abolition of the Slave Trade. He thought it ought to be abolished on principles of humanity and justice.
It looks to me to be narrow and pedantic to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal justice to this great public contest. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people.
There was an ancient Roman lawyer, of great fame in the history of Roman jurisprudence, whom they called Cui Bono, from his having first introduced into judicial proceedings the argument, "What end or object could the party have had in the act with which he is accused."
On the Impeachment of Warren Hastings (1794)