Learned Hand
Learned Hand
Billings Learned Handwas a United States judge and judicial philosopher. He served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Hand has been quoted more often by legal scholars and by the Supreme Court of the United States than any other lower-court judge...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth27 January 1872
CountryUnited States of America
rights liberty alternatives
It is still in the lap of the gods whether a society can succeed which is based on "civil liberties and human rights" conceived as I have tried to describe them; but of one thing at least we may be sure: the alternatives that have so far appeared have been immeasurably worse.
empty-vessels history use
The use of history is to tell us what we are, for at our birth we are nearly empty vessels and we become what our tradition pours into us.
law community important
The legal relations between the individual and the community which arise out of the production and distribution of property, comprise by far the greater, and more important, part of the law; subtract these and very little content would be left.
law regulation stuff
Every smallest step of modern industry depends upon a cooperation whose maintenance and regulation is the very stuff of law.
agreement way counting
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.
want dogma skepticism
Skepticism is my only gospel, but I don't want to make a dogma out of it.
freedom men mind
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understands the minds of other men and women.
different-faces government political
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.
two america uninformed
In america, there are two tax systems: one for the informed and one for the uninformed. Both are legal
reflection color environment
Words are chameleons, which reflect the color of their environment.
anger passion may
There is no fury like that against one who, we fear, may succeed in making us disloyal to beliefs we hold with passion, but have not really won.
answers action life-is
Life is made up of constant calls to action, and we seldom have time for more than hastily contrived answers.
freedom liberty spirit
The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not quite sure it is right.
impossible hated heretic
Heretics have been hated from the beginning of recorded time; they have been ostracized, exiled, tortured, maimed, and butchered; but it has generally proved impossible to smother them; and when it has not, the society that has succeeded has always declined.