Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon Quotes

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There are many situations in life, and particularly in the commercial world, where a man cannot by any diligence inform himself of the degree of credit which ought to be given to the persons with whom he deals; in which cases he must apply to those whose sources of intelligence enable them to give that information. The law of prudence leads him to apply to them, and the law of morality ought to induce them to give the information required.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The situation the Lord Mayor holds is the first officer of the first city in the world in point of commerce and riches, and everything that can constitute the magnificence of a city. He is a judicial officer, and a municipal officer too, and from these combined characters there are duties incumbent upon him, which by all the ties that can bind a man to the discharge of duty, he is bound to discharge. It stands at the head of his duties, next after protecting the religion which binds us to God, to govern that civil policy which binds government together, and prevents us from being a state of anarchy and confusion.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Though this motion for a new trial is an application to the discretion of the Court, it must be remembered that the discretion to be exercised on such an occasion is not a wild but a sound discretion, and to be confined within those limits within which an honest man, competent to discharge the duties of his office, ought to confine himself. And that discretion will be best exercised by not deviating from the rules laid down by our predecessors; for the practice of the Court forms the law of the Court.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Justice requires that a party should be duly summoned and fully heard before he is condemned.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The discussion which was made by Luther, Melancthon, and the other persons who preceded the Reformation, opened the eyes or the public; and they got rid of the delusions which had been spread by the Pope of Rome, and emancipated mankind from the spiritual tyranny they were under, and brought about the establishment of that religion which we now enjoy in this country.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
He had no right to take the law into his own hands.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Sitting in a Court of law, I can receive no evidence but what comes under the sanction of an oath.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
I should be extremely sorry to find that in a fictitious proceeding, instituted for the more easy attaining of justice, different rules were to obtain in the different Courts.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
It is the great duty of every Court of justice to administer justice as well as they can between the litigating parties ; another, and not less material, duty is to satisfy those parties that the whole case has been examined and considered.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The common law, though not to be found in the written records of the realm, yet has been long well known. It is coeval with civilised society itself, and was formed from time to time by the wisdom of man. Good sense did not come with the Conquest, or at any other one time, but grew and increased from time to time with the wisdom of mankind.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
In the hurry of business, the most able Judges are liable to err.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Some modern cases have in my opinion gone too far.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
We are all desirous to sit as long as we can, but necessity justifies that which it compels; the strength of man is not adequate to this. Lord Mansfield, as little inclined to give way as any man, did give way at a certain hour in the case of Lord Pomfret.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
I have often thought since that there is sound sense in what was once said by the late Lord C. J. Eyre, that the sooner a bad precedent was gotten rid of, the better.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Those regulations that are adapted to the common race of men are the best.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Courts of equity make their decrees so as to arrive at the justice of the case without violating the rules of law.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Though in a state of society some must have greater luxuries and comforts than others, yet all should have the necessaries of life; and if the poor cannot exist, in vain may the rich look for happiness or prosperity. The legislature is never so well employed as when they look to the interests of those who are at a distance from them in the ranks of society. It is their duty to do so: religion calls for it; humanity calls for it; and if there are hearts who are not awake to either of those feelings, their own interests would dictate it.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
In many cases a party undertakes to prove a custom from the time of legal memory, the reign of Richard the Second; but that proof is generally established by evidence of acts done at a much later period, and frequently no evidence is given beyond the present century.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
All Governments rest mainly on public opinion, and to that of his own subjects every wise Sovereign will look. The opinion of his subjects will force a Sovereign to do his duty, and by that opinion will he be exalted or depressed in the politics of the world.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The power of free discussion is the right of every subject of this country. It is a right to the fair exercise of which we are indebted more than to any other that was ever claimed by Englishmen. All the blessings we at present enjoy might be ascribed to it.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The popish religion is now unknown to the law of this country.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
It is sometimes difficult to get rid of first impressions.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
It is of infinite importance to the public that the acts of magistrates should not only be substantially good, but also that they should be decorous.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
I take it that the judgment is an essential point in every conviction, let the punishment be fixed or not.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
It is of great importance that the laws by which the contracts of so numerous and so useful a body of men as the sailors are supposed to be guided, should not be overturned.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
It is a rule that those who come into a Court of justice to seek redress, must come with clean hands, and must disclose a transaction warranted by law.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
What a man does in his closet ought not to affect the rights of third persons.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
Many people there are in this kingdom who never see a Gazette to the day of their deaths, and very mischievous would be the consequences if they were bound by a notice inserted in it.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
The learned counsel has very properly avoided all political discussions unconnected with the subject, and I shall follow his example. Courts of justice have nothing to do with them.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon
In dispensing the criminal justice of the country, we have sometimes an arduous task to perform. It is not a pleasant thing, most certainly, to condemn any one of our fellow creatures to punishment; but those who are entrusted with the administration of the criminal justice of a country, must summon up their fortitude, and render justice to the public, as well as justice tempered with mercy to the individual.

Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon