A. P. Herbert - Uncommon Law (1935)

13 Sourced Quotes

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The critical period in matrimony is breakfast-time.

A. P. Herbert
A highbrow is the kind of person who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.

A. P. Herbert
The whole Constitution has been erected upon the assumption that the King not only is capable of doing wrong but is more likely to do wrong than other men if he is given the chance.

A. P. Herbert
Citizens who take it upon themselves to do unusual actions which attract the attention of the police should be careful to bring these actions into one of the recognized categories of crimes and offences, for it is intolerable that the police should be put to the pains of inventing reasons for finding them undesirable.

A. P. Herbert
On trying to write a cheque on a cow:
'Was the cow crossed?'
'No, your worship, it was an open cow.'

A. P. Herbert
A man who has made up his mind on a given subject twenty-five years ago and continues to hold his political opinions after he has been proved to be wrong is a man of principle; while he who from time to time adapts his opinions to the changing circumstances of life is an opportunist.

A. P. Herbert
The Englishman never enjoys himself except for a noble purpose. He does not play cricket because it is a good game, but because it creates good citizens. He does not love motor-races for their own sake, but for the advantages they bring to the engineering firms of his country. And it is common knowledge that the devoted persons who conduct and regularly attend horse-races do not do so because they like it, but for the benefit of the breed of the English horse.

A. P. Herbert
An Act of God was defined as something which no reasonable man could have expected.

A. P. Herbert
People must not do things for fun. We are not here for fun. There is no reference to fun in any Act of Parliament.

A. P. Herbert
It is like the thirteenth stroke of a crazy clock, which not only is itself discredited but casts a shade of doubt over all previous assertions.

A. P. Herbert
The Common Law of England has been laboriously built about a mythical figure—the figure of 'The Reasonable Man'.

A. P. Herbert
It is clear that the game of golf may well be included in that category of intolerable provocations which may legally excuse or mitigate behavior not otherwise excusable.

A. P. Herbert
It cannot be too clearly understood that this is not a free country, and it will be an evil day for the legal profession when it is.

A. P. Herbert