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Quote by Learned Hand

“Conservative political opinion in America cleaves to the tradition of the judge as passive interpreter, believing that his absolute loyalty to authoritative law is the price of his immunity from political pressure and of the security of his tenure.”

Quote by Learned Hand

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Work

The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

This book compiles various papers and addresses that delve into the concept of liberty and its importance in society more

Author

Learned Hand was an influential American judge known for his eloquent and thoughtful opinions. He served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1909 until his death in 1961. Hand's legal reasoning and his commitment to the rule of law have had a lasting impact on American jurisprudence. more

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“The profession of the law of which he [a judge] is a part is charged with the articulation and final incidence of the successive efforts towards justice; it must feel the circulation of the communal blood or it will wither and drop off, a useless member.”

Feels Law Justice Effort Blood Judging Members Finals Profession Useless Circulation Articulation Incidence

Author:Learned Hand

“Liberty is so much latitude as the powerful choose to accord to the weak.”

Powerful Liberty Weak Accord Latitude

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“The lawyer must either learn to live more capaciously or be content to find himself continuously less trusted, more circumscribed, till he becomes hardly more important than a minor administrator, confined to a monotonous round of record and routine, without dignity, inspiration, or respect.”

Important Inspiration Records Dignity Rounds Lawyer Routine Trusted Minors Confined Monotonous Administrators

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“There is something monstrous in commands couched in invented and unfamiliar language; an alien master is the worst of all. The language of the law must not be foreign to the ears of those who are to obey it.”

Law Language Worst Masters Ears Command Aliens Monstrous Unfamiliar

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“Today in America vast concourses of youth are flocking to our colleges, eager for something, just what they do not know.”

Knows Today America Learning Youth College

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“Those of us who have come to years of discretion and more, must often take to retrospect, and seek to appraise the outcome of our lives.”

Years Our Lives Maturity Outcomes Discretion Retrospect Appraise

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“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.”

Littles Important Would Be Law Individual Left Community Greater Relation Property Productions Arise Distribution

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“We all have our prayer-wheels which we set up on the steppes. The indifferent winds come and carry most of them away to gasp out their little lives in the desert, for few reach heaven.”

Littles Heaven Prayer Wind Desert Wheels Indifferent Our Prayers

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

“The public official must pick his way nicely, must learn to placate though not to yield too much, to have the art of honeyed words but not to seem neutral, and above all to keep constantly audible, visible, likable, even kissable.”

Way Art Seems Too Much Picks Officials Visible Yield Public Officials

Author:Learned Hand

“We recently had a referendum in New York about extending the forest preserve. The city voted for it by a large majority; yet as I walk the streets I do not see afforestation written with conviction on the harried faces of my fellow citizens.”

Faces Walks Cities Written Tree Streets New York Citizens Fellows Majority Conviction Forests Preserves Extending Referendums

Book:The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses

Source: The Spirit of Liberty: Papers and Addresses