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The law rarely hesitates in declaring its own meaning but the Judges are frequently puzzled to find out the meaning of others.

William Blackstone

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William Blackstone
Age: 56 †
Born: 1723
Born: July 10
Died: 1780
Died: February 14
Barrister
Judge
Jurist
Politician
University Teacher
Writer
the City
Sir William Blackstone
Judges
Frequently
Rarely
Judging
Meaning
Hesitates
Law
Puzzled
Others
Find
Declaring

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The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence and ornament it is its ancient and natural strength, - the floating bulwark of our island.
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[Self-defense is] justly called the primary law of nature, so it is not, neither can it be in fact, taken away by the laws of society.
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The law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind.
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No outward doors of a man's house can in general be broken open to execute any civil process though in criminal cases the public safety supersedes the private.
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Man must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator. This will of his Maker is called the Law of Nature. This Law of Nature is superior to any other. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.
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It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer.
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Law is the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people.
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Mankind will not be reasoned out of the feelings of humanity.
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Every wanton and causeless restraint of the will of the subject, whether practiced by a monarch, a nobility, or a popular assembly, is a degree of tyranny.
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The most universal and effectual way of discovering the true meaning of law, when the words are dubious, is by considering the reason and spirit of it or the cause which moved the legislator to enact it. for when this reason ceased, the law itself ought likewise to cease with it.
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The husband and wife are one, and that one is the husband.
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Gaming is a kind of tacit confession that the company engaged therein do in general exceed the bounds of their respective fortunes, and therefore they cast lots to determine upon whom the ruin shall at present fall, that the rest may be saved a little longer.
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Herein indeed consists the excellence of the English government, that all parts of it form a mutual check upon each other.
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Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws.
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The public good is in nothing more essentially interested, than in the protection of every individual's private rights.
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There is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination and engages the affections of mankind, as the right of property.
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Free men have arms slaves do not.
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The third absolute right, inherent in every Englishman, is that of . . . the sacred and inviolable rights of private property.
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Men was formed for society, and is neither capable of living alone, nor has the courage to do it.
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So great moreover is the regard of the law for private property, that it will not authorize the least violation of it no, not even for the general good of the whole community.
William Blackstone