Law Quotes by Thomas Jefferson

Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.

— Thomas Jefferson

The law of self-preservation is higher than written law.

— Thomas Jefferson

Courts love the people always, as wolves do the sheep.

— Thomas Jefferson

Although we are free by the law, we are not so in practice.

— Thomas Jefferson

If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.

— Thomas Jefferson

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.

— Thomas Jefferson

“When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Taste cannot be controlled by law.

— Thomas Jefferson

Natural rights [are] the objects for the protection of which society is formed and municipal laws established.

— Thomas Jefferson

The juries are our judges of all fact, and of law when they choose it.

— Thomas Jefferson

The Habeas Corpus secures every man here, alien or citizen, against everything which is not law, whatever shape it may assume.

— Thomas Jefferson

That one hundred and fifty lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.

— Thomas Jefferson

the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.

— Thomas Jefferson

Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass. They are inherently independent of all but moral law.

— Thomas Jefferson

All... natural rights may be abridged or modified in [their] exercise by law.

— Thomas Jefferson

An equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental.

— Thomas Jefferson

Laws ... proportionate and mild should never be dispensed with. Let mercy be the character of the law-giver, but let the judge…

— Thomas Jefferson

The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and in-grafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against…

— Thomas Jefferson

The true fountains of evidence [are] the head and heart of every rational and honest man. It is there nature has written…

— Thomas Jefferson

Taste cannot be controlled by law. We must resist at all costs any attempt to regulate our individual freedoms and to legislate…

— Thomas Jefferson

We are not immortal ourselves, my friend; how can we expect our enjoyments to be so? We have no rose without its…

— Thomas Jefferson

Our ancient laws expressly declare that those who are but delegates themselves shall not delegate to others powers which require judgment and…

— Thomas Jefferson

Nothing but a necessity invincible by any other means can justify ... a prostitution of laws, which constitute the pillars of our…

— Thomas Jefferson

Considering the great importance to the public liberty of the freedom of the press, and the difficulty of submitting it to very…

— Thomas Jefferson

I sincerely wish you may find it convenient to come here. the pleasure of the trip will be less than you expect,…

— Thomas Jefferson

When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community.…

— Thomas Jefferson

In America, no other distinction between man and man had ever been known but that of persons in office exercising powers by…

— Thomas Jefferson

No person shall be restrained of his liberty but by regular process from a court of justice, authorized by a general law.…

— Thomas Jefferson

The instability of our laws is really an immense evil. I think it would be well to provide in our constitutions that…

— Thomas Jefferson

The Greeks by their laws, and the Romans by the spirit of their people, took care to put into the hands of…

— Thomas Jefferson

Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the…

— Thomas Jefferson

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…

— Thomas Jefferson

It is a moot question whether the origin of any kind of property is derived from nature at all. It is agreed…

— Thomas Jefferson

Why suspend the habeas corpus in insurrections and rebellions? Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the…

— Thomas Jefferson

I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or…

— Thomas Jefferson

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with…

— Thomas Jefferson

Laws provide against injury from others; but not from ourselves.

— Thomas Jefferson

He who is permitted by law to have no property of his own, can with difficulty conceive that property is founded in…

— Thomas Jefferson

A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.

— Thomas Jefferson

Every man is under the natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; and this is all the laws should…

— Thomas Jefferson