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
Learned Hand quotes about
The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.
american-judge court dies hearts lies men needs save
It lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.
borrowing press submit
I submit to you that we must press along. Borrowing from Epictetus, let us say to ourselves: "Since we are men, we will play the part of Man".
built coral foundation law left might minute monument past relics slowly stands turn whom work
(Common law) stands as a monument slowly raised, like a coral reef, from the minute accretions of past individuals, of whom each built upon the relics which his predecessors left, and in his turn left a foundation upon which his successors might work
appearance avoided case clutter confidence courage dared few justified lawyers mark rest strongest weakness willing
With the courage which only comes of justified self-confidence, he dared to rest his case upon its strongest point, and so avoided that appearance of weakness and uncertainty which comes of a clutter of arguments. Few lawyers are willing to do this; it is the mark of the most distinguished talent.
law political ears
The language of the law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it.
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.
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.
law liberty littles
If the prosecution of crime is to be conducted with so little regard for that protection which centuries of English law have given to the individual, we are indeed at the dawn of a new era; and much that we have deemed vital to our liberties, is a delusion.