Thought Provoking Law Quote: Hermione Granger

The popular Harry Potter book series featured the exploits of a group of teenage wizards as they navigate the travails of life, friendship, evil forces, and magical education at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An ongoing theme throughout the series focuses on the forces of dark magic and the danger presented to society by a particularly powerful dark wizard known as Voldemort. Harry and his friends, including the very bright Hermione Granger, have discovered that Voldemort’s presence was once again threatening danger to society and they had reported it to the appropriate governmental authorities. However, in order to avoid a public panic, the government has not merely ignored their entreaties to take action, but has engaged in an aggressive campaign to discredit the young wizards and their statements. In this setting, the following exchange takes place between Hermione Granger and Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour:

"'Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?’ asked Scrimgeour. ‘No, I am not,’ retorted Hermione. ‘I’m hoping to do some good in the world!'"

From her point of reference in the eternal struggle between good and evil, Hermione conceptualized law as an impediment to the accomplishment of good.  In her eyes, law was bad and to “do good” one had to do something other than law.  Considering law through Hermione’s eyes introduces us to the complexity of the question, “What is law?”

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Alan Dershowitz

It has often been said that a trial is a search for truth. However, is there only one truth in a complex dispute? In 1995, former NFL star O.J. Simpson went on trial for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend. The criminal trial was broadcast on TV from the courtroom and captivated the nation’s interest. The “search for truth” was placed front and center in the American conscience. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz describes the scene in his article, Is a Criminal Trial a Search For Truth?:

A review of the trial transcript reveals that this phrase was used more than seventy times. The prosecutors claimed that they were searching for truth and that the defense was deliberately obscuring it. . . . The defense also claimed the mantle of truth and accused the prosecution of placing barriers in its path. And throughout the trial, the pundits observed that neither side was really interested in truth, only in winning. They were right – and wrong.

Simpson was acquitted of the criminal charges against him by the jury. The victims’ families also filed a civil lawsuit against Simpson for wrongful death of their loved ones. In the civil trial that took place immediately following the criminal trial, the jury found Simpson liable for the deaths. One incident, two trials, and two different “truths.”

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Peter Thiel

Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of Pay Pal who famously financed Hulk Hogan's invasion of privacy lawsuit against the sleazy Gawker website that resulted in a $130 M verdict, recently explained his support for Donald Trump by detailing the great economic inequities constituting our national crisis:

“If you’re a single-digit millionaire like Hulk Hogan, you have no effective access to our legal system.” 

- Peter Thiel addressing the National Press Club 10/31/16

How many times have we told our students that the civil justice system was the great social leveler?  Any "regular Joe" could find justice against powerful wrongdoers simply by accessing the court system.  Right? Is this still true, or has it become one of those quaint civics class myths like "the law is insulated from the influence of politics."

See the video here.

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Anatole France

Nineteenth-century French author Anatole France had this to say of the equal application of law,

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”

While the rules in civil litigation may be the same for both parties, are both equally well equipped to carry on the protracted conflict envisioned by the adversarial system? If a high school football team played a game against an NFL team, the rules might be the same for both teams, but what is the likely outcome?

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Frank Galvin in, "The Verdict"

In this blockbuster movie from the 1980's based on Boston lawyer Barry Reed's novel, an alcoholic lawyer mired in hard times thrust upon him by a legal system that rewards cronyism tries to redeem himself by winning a medical malpractice case.  See the post here.

In one scene, the lawyer, Frank Galvin (played by Paul Newman and earning an Oscar nomination) gives us a glimpse of what lies inside the gritty exterior and beyond the grimy practices.

The weak, the weak have got to have somebody to fight for them.... That's why the court exists. The court doesn't exist to give them justice, eh? But to give them a chance at justice.

See the scene below, beginning around :30:

Thought Provoking Law Quote: The Devil's Dictionary

American Writer Ambrose Bierce must have had some difficult dealings with the legal system.  His Devil's Dictionary published in 1906 includes the following definitions of legal terms:

LITIGATION, n. A machine which you go into as a pig and come out of as a sausage.

LITIGANT, n. A person about to give up his skin for the hope of retaining his bones.

LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law.

CORPORATION, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.

There are many more.  Click here to browse for your favorites.

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Abraham Lincoln

Whenever there is a conflict between human rights and property rights, human rights must prevail.

--Abraham Lincoln

The thought provoking law quote this week is attributed to Abraham Lincoln, although its provenance is sketchy. The attribution comes from the Congressional Record of May 12, 1944. "Human Rights" is a term that was emerging in the WWII era, but was not commonly used in Lincoln's time. While the provenance may be unclear, the sentiment is not.

I use this quote in class to introduce the eminent domain case of Kelo v. New London.  In Kelo, the US Supreme Court approved a city's use of the eminent domain power to condemn an entire neighborhood of privately owned homes in order to turn the property over to a developer for a proposed hotel/conference complex.  The complex was part of an economic development plan which, according to the court, qualified as a public purpose category of "public use."  Prior to this case, the "public purpose" definition had been used to justify takings only where the existing ownership condition had created some detriment or other public harm.  But in Kelo, the court readily admitted that the houses were not blighted and no public detriment existed - except that the city could increase its tax base if the property was in the hands of someone other than the regular working class tax paying owners who occupied the houses.

At first glance, this may seem to be merely a battle of property rights.  And that is certainly how it was seen by the chairwoman of the New London Redevelopment Authority as expressed in this competing quote:

There are circumstances in which the one gives to the many.

Clearly to New London officials, this dispute was just a matter of economics - get paid for your property and move somewhere else. But almost everyone else sees the City's action as an insensitive violation of the "pursuit of happiness," one of Jefferson's famously enumerated inherent human rights.

Work your whole life, save for your retirement, use your hard earned money to buy a modest property with a water view to which you can retire for your remaining sunset years in peace and happiness. The City can take it from you to turn it into a tourist attraction for yuppies yearning to shed their disposable income. Lincoln's sentiment was lost on the Supreme Court.

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Judge Jerome Frank

Federal Court of Appeals Judge Jerome Frank was one of the leading writers in the Jurisprudence of Legal Realism. His 1949 work, Courts on Trial, is still relevant today as a critique on the ability of our trial system to effectively dispense justice.  From Chapter 6 of that work, The "Fight" Theory vs. The "Truth" Theory:

In short, the lawyer aims at victory, at winning in the fight, not at aiding the court to discover the facts. He does not want the trial court to reach a sound educated guess, if it is likely to be contrary to his client's interests. Our present trial method is thus the equivalent of throwing pepper in the eyes of a surgeon when he is performing an operation.

                                      -Judge Jerome Frank, Courts on Trial, 1949

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Abraham Lincoln

How often do we read or hear people saying that NOW we need to pay attention to business ethics. The implication is that recent events and actions have given rise to inequities, injustice and social detriment. However, a strong argument can be made that ethical challenges exist in the very fabric of a capitalist society and these issues have been worthy of attention from the very beginnings of an industrial society.

As the Civil War was winding down in 1864, President Lincoln began to look ahead to what he perceived as the next great crisis facing the nation.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country.  . . .  Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. 

    

           -Abraham Lincoln in a letter to Col. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Thomas Jefferson

Students often trivialize negligence claims as the overly aggressive machinations of greedy, self-interested ambulance chasers. But the quote below places such claims in a new light.  At the infancy of our republic, while  "We the people" were sorting out exactly how government could help maintain a healthy, just and robust society, our third president makes clear his views in his inaugural speech:

Still one thing more, fellow citizens -- a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

                - Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801

A governmental system that restrains men (and women, ostensibly) from injuring one another is necessary "to close the circles of our felicities."

Nice, huh?!

Click here for quote controversy.

Thought Provoking Law Quote: Theodore Roosevelt

The LSCB today introduces a new recurring feature. Though Provoking Law Quotes will hopefully provide an opportunity to spice up your PPT lecture slides or syllabi or suggest a discussion starter for your class.  I encourage readers to send me your favorite thought provoking quotes and I will be happy to share them for you on the LSC blog.

"Industry, therefore, must submit to such public regulation as will make it a means of life and health and not of death or inefficiency. We must protect the crushable elements at the base of our present industrial structure"
  - Theodore Roosevelt speech on Social and Industrial Justice, 1912


Hear Roosevelt in his own words advocate for a living wage and condemn courts that block social progress. The quote above comes up around the 2:05 mark.