It Is Better That Ten Guilty Persons

Every Wanton And Causeless Restraint Of The Will Of The Subject, Whether Practiced By A Monarch, A Nobility, Or A Popular Assembly, Is A Degree Of Tyranny.

The Most Universal And Effectual Way Of Discovering The True Meaning Of Law, When The Words Are Dubious, Is By Considering The Reason And Spirit Of It; Or The Cause Which Moved The Legislator To Enact It. For When This Reason Ceased, The Law Itself Ought Likewise To Cease With It.

The Law Rarely Hesitates In Declaring Its Own Meaning; But The Judges Are Frequently Puzzled To Find Out The Meaning Of Others.

This Law Of Nature, Being Co-eval With Mankind And Dictated By God Himself, Is Of Course Superior In Obligation To Any Other. It Is Binding Over All The Globe, In All Countries, And At All Times: No Human Laws Are Of Any Validity, If Contrary To This; And Such Of Them As Are Valid Derive All Their Force, And All Their Authority, Mediately Or Immediately, From This Original.

[self-defense Is] Justly Called The Primary Law Of Nature, So It Is Not, Neither Can It Be In Fact, Taken Away By The Laws Of Society.