"If public officers will infringe men's rights, they ought to pay greater damages than other men, to deter and hinder other officers from the like offences."

"If it be a matter within our jurisdiction, we are bound by our oaths to judge of it."

"Every injury imports a damage, though it does not cost the party one farthing, and it is impossible to prove the contrary; for a damage is not merely pecuniary, but an injury imports a damage, when a man is hereby hindered of his right. As in an action for slanderous words, though a man does not lose a penny by reason of the speaking them, yet he shall have an action. So if a man give another a cuff on the ear, though it cost him nothing, no, not so much as a little diachylon, yet he shall have his action, for it is a personal injury."

"Every man that is injured ought to have his recompence."

"Where a man has but one remedy to come at his right, if he loses that he loses his right."

"It would look very strange, when the Commons of England are so fond of their right of sending representatives to Parliament, that it should be in the power of a sheriff, or other officer, to deprive them of that right, and yet that they should have no remedy; it is a thing to be admired at by all mankind."

"It is a vain thing to imagine a right without a remedy; for want of right and want of remedy are reciprocal."

"Actual perceptible damage is not indispensable as the foundation of an action; it is sufficient to show the violation of a right, in which case the law will presume damage."

"We must not be frighted when a matter of property comes before us by saying it belongs to the Parliament; we must exert the Queen's jurisdiction."

"I agree we ought not to incroach or inlarge our jurisdiction; by so doing we usurp both on the right of the Queen and the people."

"Surely the navy must be the navy royal."

"He whose dirt it is must keep it that it may not trespass."

"Whatever at common law might be amended in civil cases, was at common law amendable in criminal, and so it is at this day."

"It is a disparagement of the Government, who put an ill man into office."

"Shall we relieve a man, that trusts when he needs not?"

"Shall we indict one man for making a fool of another?"

"We take notice of all feasts, and the almanack is part of the common law, the calendar being established by Act of Parliament, and it is published before the Common-prayer Book."

"It is abominable to convict a man behind his back."

"A man may be reputed an able man this year, and yet be a beggar the next; it is a misfortune that happens to many men, and his former reputation will signify nothing."

"We are not to issue process here as instruments or conduit-pipes, but judicially as Judges: and it will not be an objection to say, that we may award process at all hazards, and let the party grieved come after and plead to it; for we shall never grant an ill-writ, that the party may avoid it in pleading."

"I do not pretend to dispense equity at large, but only by the consent of the parties, upon a rule of Court."

"The subject being unusual, I fear that I shall not make myself intelligible, but I will do my endeavour, that the reasons of our judgment may be apprehended."

"A gentleman of Lincoln's-inn."

"Rokeby, J.: I do not think but a Popish doctor may be a good doctor to a Protestant patient; but I do not think that a Popish governor can be a good governor for a Protestant subject. Holt, C.J.: Aye, but a Popish censor is not so proper to supervise and inspect all the Protestant physicians."

"Libelling against a private man is a moral offence; but when it is against a government, it tends to the destruction of it."

"To excuse himself from damage, must say, was ready always and at all times."

"We ought, as far as we can by law, to support the government of all societies and corporations, especially this of the city of London; and if the mayor and aldermen should not have power to punish offenders in a summary way, then farewell the government of the city."

"It is expected you should do your best for those you are assigned for, as it is expected in any other case, that you do your duty for your client."

"No counsel in the world that understand themselves, can argue anything against what has been often settled and always practised."

"We cannot make a law, we must go according to the law. That must be our rule and direction."

"I am far from being such a Judge as shall lay any intolerable yoke upon any one's neck."

"My judgment ought to be given for the plaintiff: but my brothers are all of another opinion, and so I submit to it. The defendant must have his judgment."

"An universal custom is a law, and I know no distinction between lex mercatoria and consuetudo mercaborum."

"Prima facie, every estate, whether given by will or otherwise, is supposed to be beneficial to the party to whom it is so given."

"In drawing an inference or conclusion from facts proved, regard must always be had to the nature of the particular case, and the facility that appears to be afforded, either of explanation or contradiction. No person is to be required to explain or contradict, until enough has been proved to warrant a reasonable and just conclusion against him, in the absence of explanation or contradiction."

"A presumption of any fact is, properly, an inferring of that fact from other facts that are known; it is an act of reasoning; and much of human knowledge on all subjects is derived from this source."

"I am extremely unwilling that we should take upon ourselves to exercise a jurisdiction which the law does not vest in us."

"Although our powers are great, they are not unlimited—they are bounded by some lines of demarcation."

"It is fit that justice should be administered with great caution."

"Human society was so constituted, for human nature was so constituted, that the honour and dignity of a father were connected with that of a son; and there was no son who must not be disturbed and disquieted by imputations on his father."

"We cannot suffer a person by his affidavit to arraign the whole justice of the country and its administration."

"I know of no privileged class of society, and I do not know an esquire has any privileges a yeoman has not."

"For easier 'tis to learn and recollect What moves derision than what claims respect."

"Virtue's a mere name, Or 'tis high venture that achieves high aim."

"Let hopes and sorrows, fears and angers be, And think each day that dawns the last you'll see; For so the hour that greets you unforeseen Will bring with it enjoyment twice as keen."

"You lose no time in taking out a fly, Or straw, it may be, that torments your eye; Why, when a thing devours your mind, adjourn Till this day year all thought of the concern? Come now, have courage to be wise: begin: You're halfway over when you once plunge in: He who puts off the time for mending, stands A clodpoll by the stream with folded hands, Waiting till all the water be gone past; But it runs on, and will, while time shall last."

"O Fortune, cruellest of heavenly powers, Why make such game of this poor life of ours?"

"Then take, good sir, your pleasure while you may; With life so short 'twere wrong to lose a day."

"He who maligns an absent friend's fair fame, Who says no word for him when others blame, Who courts a reckless laugh by random hits, Just for the sake of ranking among wits, Who feigns what he ne'er saw, a secret blabs, Beware him, Roman! that man steals or stabs!"

"Let Rome be glorious on the earth, The centre of Italian worth."