More law, less justice.
Genuine
Yes. In On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter X, section 33 (I.10.33).
Found word for word by program in the Latin original and in Walter Miller’s English translation (1913).
- Work
- On Duties (De Officiis), 44 BC
- Where
- Book I, chapter X, section 33 (I.10.33)
- Found at
- Paragraph 37 of the Latin text, 14 of the English
- Translation
- Walter Miller, 1913
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
Chicanery.
[…] Iam illis promissis standum non esse quis non videt, quae coactus quis metu, quae deceptus dolo promiserit? quae quidem pleraque iure praetorio liberantur, nonnulla legibus.
33 Injustice often arises also through chicanery, that is, through an over-subtle and even fraudulent construction of the law. This it is that gave rise to the now familiar saw, “More law, less justice.” […]
[33] Existunt etiam saepe iniuriae calumnia quadam et nimis callida sed malitiosa iuris interpretatione. Ex quo illud “summum ius summa iniuria” factum est iam tritum sermone proverbium. Quo in genere etiam in re publica multa peccantur, ut ille, qui, cum triginta dierum essent cum hoste indutiae factae, noctu populabatur agros, quod dierum essent pactae, non noctium indutiae. Ne noster quidem probandus, si verum est Q. […]
[34] Sunt autem quaedam officia etiam adversus eos servanda, a quibus iniuriam acceperis. […]
[35] Quare suscipienda quidem bella sunt ob eam causam, ut sine iniuria in pace vivatur, parta autem victoria conservandi i, qui non crudeles in bello, non inmanes fuerunt, ut maiores nostri Tusculanos, Aequos, Volscos, Sabinos, Hernicos in civitatem etiam acceperunt, at Karthaginem et Numantiam funditus sustulerunt; nollem Corinthum, sed credo aliquid secutos, oportunitatem loci maxime, ne posset aliquando ad bellum faciendum locus ipse adhortari. […]
The scene
Cicero is explaining why literal fulfilment of an agreement can sometimes violate the underlying duties of justice. He calls the Latin maxim a familiar proverb, then gives examples of abusing the letter of an agreement: a general ravages enemy land at night during a truce for thirty ‘days’, and a Roman arbitrator gains land for Rome by manipulating a boundary settlement. He condemns the latter as swindling rather than arbitration.
What it means
A clever, excessively literal use of legal rights can become a means of doing wrong. The English is Walter Miller’s compact rendering of the Latin contrast between the utmost legal right and the utmost wrong.
Often misread
Miller’s wording can sound like a claim that every increase in legislation reduces justice. Cicero is discussing dishonest interpretation, not counting laws, and he identifies the maxim as a proverb already in circulation rather than his own invention.
Topics
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- Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. Albert Einstein
- Freedom cannot be bestowed — it must be achieved. Elbert Hubbard
- Virtue is a mean state; but in reference to the chief good and to excellence it is the highest state possible. Aristotle
Sources
- thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/off1.shtml#33
- gutenberg.org/cache/epub/47001/pg47001-images.html#I.33 (Walter Miller, 1913)
- en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cicero (On Duties; Miller’s translation)
Cite it
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties (44 BC), Book I, chapter X, section 33 (I.10.33), translated by Walter Miller (1913). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/more-law-less-justice/ (31 October 2026).
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