I just happened across this passage from Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons. It’s one of my favorites, so I thought I’d post it. The background is that Sir Thomas More, then Lord Chancellor of England, is arguing with his daughter’s suiter, Roper, as to whether to apprehend a government agent who is about to falsely inform on him.
More There is no law against that. (being false and evil)
Roper There is! God’s law!
More Then God can arrest him.
Roper Sophistication upon sophistication.
More No, sheer simplicity. The law, Roper, the law. I know what’s
legal not what’s right. And I’ll stick to what’s legal.Roper Then you set man’s law above God’s!
More No, far below; but let me draw your attention to a fact – I’m not
God. The currents and eddies of right and wrong, which you find such
plain sailing, I can’t navigate. I’m no voyager. But in the thickets of
the law, oh, there I’m a forrester. I doubt if there’s a man alive who
could follow me there, thank God….Alice While you talk, he’s gone!
More And go he should, if he was the Devil himself, until he broke the
law!Roper So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!
More Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get
after the Devil?Roper I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round
on you – where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This
country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast – man’s laws, not
God’s – and if you cut them down – and you’re just the man to do it –
d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow
then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.“A Man for All Seasons” — Robert Bolt
This really gets at the issue of why it’s necessary to abide by and preserve the rule of law even where, in particular cases, it is unpopular or inexpedient or ineffective.
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