What seems fair enough against a squalid huckster of bad liquor may take on a different face, if used by a government determined to suppress political opposition under the guise of sedition.
Learned HandRead
The language of the law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Laws should be understandable to the people they govern, ensuring fairness and compliance.
Learned Hand's quote emphasizes that legal language should be accessible and comprehensible to the general populace. If the law is couched in complex or foreign terminology, it becomes disconnected from the very individuals it aims to serve, leading to confusion, misunderstanding, and potential injustice. By advocating for clarity in legal language, Hand underscores the principle that the rule of law should be an inclusive and participatory framework.
Themes
LawLanguageUnderstandingJusticeAccessibility
In practice
Example use cases
Quoting this in a discussion about legal reform to advocate for more accessible legal language.
More from Learned Hand
All quotes β"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken." I should like to have that written over the portals of every church, every school, and every courthouse, and, may I say, of every legislative body in the United States. I should like to have every court begin, "I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that we may be mistaken."
Learned HandRead
I shall ask no more than that you agree with Dean Inge that even though counting heads is not an ideal way to govern, at least it is better than breaking them.
Learned HandRead
As soon as we cease to pry about at random, we shall come to rely upon accredited bodies of authoritative dogma; and as soon as we come to rely upon accredited bodies of authoritative dogma, not only are the days of our liberty over, but we have lost the password that has hitherto opened to us the gates of success as well.
Learned HandRead
What to an outsider will be no more than the vigorous presentation of a conviction, to an employee may be the manifestation of a determination which it is not safe to thwart.
Learned HandRead
The spirit of liberty is the spirit of him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned ... .
Learned HandRead
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To force a lawyer on a defendant can only lead him to believe that the law contrives against him.
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