Legal Quotes

“Reasonable doubt trumps everything.”
― Rebecca McNutt, Bittersweet Symphony

“It is unreasonable for the common people to expect a known corrupt legal system to protect them.”
― Steven Magee

“Crime exists because immorality is wicked and morality is weak.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Trump's defense is in his tweets. Insanity.”
― A.K. Kuykendall

“When her husband recovered, it was to shout abusively at her…. Later, when she reflected on it throughout the tedious courtroom proceedings, she realized this was the moment she had irrevocably determined to divorce her husband.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“We lawyers do not write plain English. We use eight words to say what could be said in two. We use arcane phrases to express commonplace ideas. Seeking to be precise, we become redundant. Seeking to be cautious, we become verbose. Our sentences twist on, phrase within clause within clause, glazing the eyes and numbing the minds of our readers. The result is a writing style that has, according to one critic, four outstanding characteristics. It is (1) wordy, (2) unclear, (3) pompous, and (4) dull.”
― Richard C. Wydick, Plain English for Lawyers

“The main reason that violence correlates with low socioeconomic status today is that the elites and the middle class pursue justice with the legal system while the lower classes resort to what scholars of violence call “self-help.”
― Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

“Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) appears to have matured into a corporate government department that strips workers of their legal rights instead of protecting them.”
― Steven Magee

“The law is well alive. If one cuts it, it will bleed. Consequently, my only lingering concern is to determine its apposite transgressor regardless of his status. The slightest failure to aggressively do so would make the law a façade of my commitment to see a society free of any discrimination.” Attorney Jerry Boies.”
― Jerry Boies

“Law enforcement ignore many crimes until the statute of limitations prevents the illegal activities from being investigated.”
― Steven Magee

“Once you have realized that law enforcement are not going to uphold your legal rights, you should recognize that making a emergency phone call is a hazardous activity to engage in.”
― Steven Magee

“Once you have realized that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are not going to uphold your legal rights, you should recognize that making a future whistle-blower report is a futile activity to engage in.”
― Steven Magee

“Nina could scarcely believe a house could be as quiet as the one on Washington Street. Although there were moments when she missed her children, her main response to living apart from her husband was relief…[H]er current solitude was not just a respite, it was a time to contemplate her future options. Nina marveled that she had choices to consider.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“Leaving James was not something Nina had thought possible, but if she could do so and still keep her children, it might be better for them, as well as for her.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“If they could not prove adultery or extreme cruelty, Nina's attorneys had an alternate strategy available. Rhode Island was unique in allowing divorce based upon other, more ambiguous grounds, as well...[as] an omnibus clause in the state's legal code authorized divorce based upon..."gross misbehavior and wickedness in either of the parties repugnant to and inconsistent with the marriage contract"...the relative vagueness of the terms "gross misbehavior and wickedness" left room for interpretation by Rhode Island judges. Therefore, it was crucial NIna's attorneys prove she had legitimate standing to file for divorce in Rhode Island.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“As a hedge against possible failure to prove adultery, this alleged “that for a period of time from 1901 and continuing thereafter he [had] kept up and continued an undue, improper, indecorous and licentious association and intimacy with a woman, named Mabel Cochrane, many years his junior, and of questionable character and immoral habits.”[i] Furthermore, Nina accused James of “bestowing upon and receiving marked and improper attention” beginning in the fall of 1901, “indulging in undue and improper familiarity and intimacy” with Mabel Cochrane.”
― Jean Elson, Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness: A Notorious Divorce in Early Twentieth-Century America

“It is unreasonable to expect a known corrupt law enforcement department to uphold your legal rights.”
― Steven Magee

“The civil justice system is built on a lie -- that vanquishing the other guy will solve your problems and make you happy”
― Dan Fagin, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation

“The source of desire to be driven by power and spread of influence makes its owner dangerous to its privileges, as it not only transforms the people who are beholden to its master, but as well creates fearful dictators and oligarchs.”
― Sirio Berati

“The language of law should be simple and straight, if you expect people to obey it.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Corporate governments have a long and established history of not prosecuting government officials that have been involved in blatant frauds.”
― Steven Magee

“Police Internal Affairs departments are so corrupt that you cannot believe anything that they say.”
― Steven Magee

“Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is largely an interrogation agency for whistle-blowers that extracts their full range of knowledge without upholding their legal rights.”
― Steven Magee

“When a police officer is pointing a gun at you, pulling your pants up is a proven way of getting you legally killed.”
― Steven Magee

“Biker George says that even though the government makes laws that sin is legal, it doesn't make it harmless or right.”
― Dano Janowski, In the Wind with Biker George

“Do not break the law, but be as truthfully inconvenient as you possibly can within the law.”
― Steven Magee

“It is not the gun that kills, it is the crazy person who was able to legally buy a firearm.”
― Steven Magee

“Never trust a corrupt corporate government judge.”
― Steven Magee

“Pulling your pants up while a police officer is pointing his gun at you is known to produce this legal response: BANG, BANG! BANG! BANG! You are dead.”
― Steven Magee

“Whether or not the public should be expected to understand is not the critical point. Obviously much of the complexity of law will try the public's patience, even if the law is expressed plainly. The real problem is that even other lawyers cannot fathom what their colleagues are writing.”
― Tom Goldstein, The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well