Quotes by Law What is this thing we call government? Is it anything but organized violence? The law orders you to obey, and if you don't obey, it will compel you by force - all governments, all law and authority finally rest on force and violence, on punishment or fear of punishment. Alexander Berkman government law order We cannot, by total reliance on law, escape the duty to judge right and wrong... There are good laws and there are occasionally bad laws, and it conforms to the highest traditions of a free society to offer resistance to bad laws, and to disobey them. Alexander Bickel judging law war The First Law of Journalism: to confirm existing prejudice, rather than contradict it. Alexander Cockburn cynical prejudice law A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. Alexander Hamilton government energy law If it were to be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws - the first growing out of the last . . . . A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. Alexander Hamilton government law answers The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law. The person of the King of Great Britain is sacred and inviolable: There is no constitutional tribunal to which he is amenable, no punishment to which he can be subjected without involving the crisis of a national revolution. Alexander Hamilton punishment kings law I would die to preserve the law upon a solid foundation; but take away liberty, and the foundation is destroyed. Alexander Hamilton foundation liberty law In a government framed for durable liberty, not less regard must be paid to giving the magistrate a proper degree of authority, to make and execute the laws with rigour, than to guarding against encroachments upon the rights of the community. As too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy, and both eventually to the ruin of the people. Alexander Hamilton government rights law What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws. Alexander Hamilton republic sacred law Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government. It is essential to the protection of the community against foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of faction, and of anarchy. Alexander Hamilton ambition law character Government is frequently and aptly classed under two descriptions-a government of force, and a government of laws; the first is the definition of despotism-the last, of liberty. Alexander Hamilton government law two The genius of the people will ill brook the inquisitive and peremptory spirit of excise laws. Alexander Hamilton genius law people Were it not that it might require too long a discussion, it would not be difficult to demonstrate that a large and well-organized republic can scarcely lose its liberty from any other cause than that of anarchy, to which a contempt of the laws is the high-road. Alexander Hamilton liberty law long The states have authority to interpret the Constitution, enforce it, and protect the people from violations of it by the federal government In the first place, there is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution, or which gives them any greater latitude in this respect than may be claimed by the courts of every State. Alexander Hamilton government law giving A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law...That portion of the sovereignty, to which each individual is entitled, can never be too highly prized. It is that for which we have fought and bled. Alexander Hamilton voting rights law Laws are a dead letter without courts to expound and define their true meaning and operation. Alexander Hamilton court law letters The law... dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this. Alexander Hamilton obligation law country The instrument by which it [government] must act are either the AUTHORITY of the laws or FORCE. If the first be destroyed, the last must be substituted; and where this becomes the ordinary instrument of government there is an end to liberty! Alexander Hamilton liberty government law Law is defined to be a rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed? Alexander Hamilton law action littles The Courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise will instead of judgement; the consequences would be the substitution of their pleasure for that of the legislative body. Alexander Hamilton judgement law exercise «1112131415161718192021»