Justice Quotes – Reflections on Law and Fairness

"Of course, the judiciary is to a considerable extent politically occupied, and every jurist should know this, even if many now suppress it due to political fanaticism. Question: What is the 3rd state exam in the judiciary? Answer: the party book"

Markus Haintz

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

Henry David Thoreau

"Legal bankruptcy is the inability of a legal system to provide justice to those subject to the law. An institution, especially a legal institution, reveals legal bankruptcy, for example, when it allows liars to rise to the top, makes graffiti artists into clerks, fraudsters into cashiers, forgers into recorders, impostors into assessors, and blackmailers into legal supervisors. Under such circumstances, the only promise of improvement lies in a complete return to generally accepted values (e.g., truth, freedom) and legal principles (e.g., pacta sunt servanda, prohibition of arbitrariness, competition, etc.)."

Gerhard Köbler

"It is outrageous how the Federal Constitutional Court judges are delaying the urgent motion, while the federal government even wants to extend the highly controversial ‘federal emergency brake’. The Karlsruhe court is thus acting as a political accomplice instead of fulfilling its supervisory duty. This creates the terrible impression of conformity."

Florian Post

"Take away justice, and what is a state but a large band of robbers?"

Augustinus von Hippo

"…The Roman Inquisition…had been administered since 1542 by the Jesuits."

Frederick Tupper Saussy

"When Sovereigns require a Jesuit’s opinion on any subject, the Jesuit in question is to report the matter to his Superior, who is to lay it before several Jesuits for discussion. The resolution formed after this consultation is supplied to the Jesuit who has been consulted by the Sovereign."

Mutio Vitelleschi

"The immense wealth of the Jesuits has been bequeathed to them by wills made at the last hour!"

Giovanni Battista Nicolini

"There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege and the principles of truth and justice. If you pursue truth and justice it will always mean a diminution of power and privilege. If you pursue power and privilege, it will always be at the expense of truth and justice"

Chris Hedges

"Laws: We know what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for the rich and mighty, steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of government."

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

"The concept of 'social justice' was the Trojan Horse through which totalitarianism has been smuggled in."

Friedrich August von Hayek

"In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs."

Walter Lippmann

"What do you call it when someone steals someone else's money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else's money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else's money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social Justice."

Thomas Sowell

"Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice."

H. L. Mencken

"The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence."

H. L. Mencken

"Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice. They are men of the same nature as minorities. They have the same passions for fame, power, and money, as minorities; and are liable and likely to be equally - perhaps more than equally, because more boldly - rapacious, tyrannical and unprincipled, if intrusted with power."

Lysander Spooner

"Justice always involves two sides: the one who pays for it and the one who gets it."

Ursula von der Leyen

"Before being free, it is necessary to be just."

Alexander von Humboldt