The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided.
Interpretation
The integrity and fairness of the law is being evaluated alongside the specific case at hand.
This quote emphasizes that the legal system's principles, fairness, and execution are under scrutiny just as much as the specific issue being adjudicated. When a case is brought to trial, it not only assesses the validity of the arguments presented but also reflects the broader justice system's reliability and ethics.
In practice
In a discussion about legal reforms, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of accountability in the justice system.
If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant's natural god-given unalienable or constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.
So utterly at variance is Destiny with all the little plans of men.
I never understood why when you died, you didn't just vanish, everything could just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn't be there. I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to say 'figment.'
Confidence alone does not make peace, but acknowledging rights and confidence do. Failure to recognize these rights creates a sense of injustice; it keeps the embers burning under the ashes.
While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will soon go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart... Joy in this perspective is the fruit of hope.
I don't get my authority from this preexisting paradigm which is quite narrow and only serves a few people. I look elsewhere for alternatives that might be of service to humanity.
Living in a society, instead of on a desert island, does not relieve a man of the responsibility of supporting his own life.
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