Too Much Lawyer

The whole point is … not that our Judges have a personal power, but that the whole world around them, the newspapers, the tone of opinion, encourage them to use it in a very personal way. In our legal method there is too much lawyer and too little law. For we must never forget one fact, which we tend to forget nevertheless: that a fixed rule is the only protection of ordinary humanity against clever men — who are the natural enemies of humanity. A dogma is the only safeguard of democracy. The law is our only barrier against lawyers. — G. K. Chesterton, Collected Works 27: The Illustrated London News 1905-1907, p. 290.

One Response to “Too Much Lawyer”

1. Tom Brainerd Says:
   June 29th, 2012 at 2:52 pm

   “Lawyer, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.”

   Ambrose Bierce: The Devil’s Dictionary.

Leave a Reply