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
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.
passion men law
Political agitation, by the passions it arouses or the convictions it engenders, may in fact stimulate men to the violation of the law. Detestation of existing policies is easily transformed into forcible resistance of the authority which puts them in execution, and it would be folly to disregard the causal relation between the two. Yet to assimilate agitation, legitimate as such, with direct incitement to violent resistance, is to disregard the tolerance of all methods of political agitation which in normal times is a safeguard of free government.
men matter form
Tyranny is tyranny, no matter what its form; the free man will resist it if his courage serves.
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.
men brotherhood-of-man justice
Right knows no boundaries, and justice no frontiers; the brotherhood of man is not a domestic institution.
men play
Since we are men, we will play the part of Man.
men savages checks
A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few.
men self names
A self-made man may prefer a self-made name.
men here-i-am long
Here I am an old man in a long nightgown making muffled noises at people who may be no worse than I am.
men law government
A government of laws without men is as visionary as a government of men without laws.
men law nervous
The aim of law is the maximum gratification of the nervous system of man.
lying heart men
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. 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 understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias.
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.