Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Thomas Jefferson Quote on Lawyers


"I should apologize, perhaps, for the style of this bill. I dislike the verbose and intricate style of the English statutes... You, however, can easily correct the bill to the taste of my brother lawyers by making every other word a "said" or "aforesaid",and saying everything over two or three times, so that nobody but we of the craft can untwist the diction and find out what it means; and that, too, not so plainly but that we may conscientiously devide, one half on each side."

-Thomas Jefferson, The Real Thomas Jefferson


This quote makes me think of the 2,000 + page health care bill, and the fact that no one but a lawyer could understand it.

4 comments:

wyo aunt said...

Or a convicted felon. Glenn Beck said the person who wrote the basic health care bill wrote while he was in prison for bank fraud.
The difference between a lawyer and a convicted felon? I have no idea.

Aunt marbles said...

Then pray tell, who wrote the health care plan?

Big Sis said...

This is especially ironic since the profession with more Senators and Representatives in the Congress are LAWYERS.

ts said...

I agree! I believe the difficult wording is intended to trick people.