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Joseph Story Quotes

Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Joseph Story was a distinguished figure in the early history of the United States. He served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1812 to 1845. His contributions to American law and legal thought were significant, and he is remembered for his influential writings on constitutional law and his role in shaping the early decisions of the Supreme Court.

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Famous Joseph Story Quotes

“Without justice being freely, fully, and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence.”

Source: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States Before the Adoption of the Constitution

“Marriage is treated by all civilized societies as a peculiar and favored contract. It is in its origin a contract of natural law . . . . It is the parent, and not the child of society; the source of civility and a sort of seminary of the republic.”

Children Law Parent Natural Family Source Treated Civilized Republic Contracts Peculiar Civility Natural Law Civilized Society Seminary

Author:Joseph Story

“Here shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unaw'd by influence and unbrib'd by gain; Here patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledg'd to Religion, Liberty, and Law.”

People Law Liberty Influence Draws Gains Presses Glorious Patriot

Author:Joseph Story

“I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society. One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law... There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”