Every Law in England
From Robert Bolt’s play “A Man for All Seasons”, in which Thomas More talks with his ambitious underling, William Roper:
Roper: “So now you’d give the devil the 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 on you, where would you hide, Roper, all the laws being flat? This country is 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 — do you really think that you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?
“Yes, I’d give the devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety’s sake.”
-Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons
Exactly. You can also look to Frankfurter’s comment in his dissent in United States v Rabinowitz that “it is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.”