US Dept of Justice

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Justice in the life and conduct of the state is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens. -- Inscribed on the exterior of the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC

 

[Puritanhead]

Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot
Justice in the life and conduct of the state is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens. -- Inscribed on the exterior of the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC

That's a good quote... justice needs to be in the hearts and souls of citizens and magistrates alike. Attendant to justice is the truth and passion for doing what's right while recognizing human fallibility.

 

[crhoades]

In the same vein...Just read this quote from Cicero from Groen VanPrinsterer's book: Unbelief and Revolution (amazing book btw!)

We agree, if the law rests upon recognition of the highest Lawgiver and upon submission to His commandments. But we disagree if by law is meant the will, the approval, the good pleasure of the majority: we should, even if we had rejected the Bible, be put to shame by pagan wisdom. 18

18 In Cicero, when he speaks of laws, we read statements like these: "But the most foolish notion of all is the belief that everything is 'just' which is decreed in the institutions and laws of nations,, or even in the laws (assuming they be such) of tyrants. If the Thirty Tyrants had wanted to impose laws on Athens, or if the Athenians had all delighted in tyrannical laws, would that be any reason to consider such laws just?...If justice were founded on the will of the people or the edicts of princes or the sentences of judges it would be just to rob and commit adultery and forge wills whenever such deeds were approved by ballot or plebiscite. But if the vote of fools is of such great power that it can turn nature itself upside down, then why do they not ordain that what is bad and baneful shall be considered good and salutary? Or again, if a law can make justice out of inustice, why can it not also make good out of evil?...From this it can be readily understood that those who have drawn up pernicious and unjust statutes for the peoples, since they have acted contrary to what they promised and professed, have done anything but enacted laws: for it is clear that the very word law [lex] contains the idea of choosing [legere] what is right and just"

De Legibus,, I, xv, xvi; II v.

 

[Puritanhead]

Originally posted by crhoades
In the same vein...Just read this quote from Cicero...

This is my favorite Cicero quote... I memorized it verbatim:

"Long before our time the customs of our ancestors molded admirable men, in turn these men upheld the ways and institutions of their forebears. Our age, however, inherited the Republic as if it were some beautiful painting of bygone ages, its colors already fading through great antiquity; and not only has our time neglected to freshen the colors of the picture, but we have failed to preserve its forms and outlines." -Marcus Tullus Cicero