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| A bad (or lean or meagre) compromise is better than a fat lawsuit. French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish. | 1 |
| A case well stated is half tried. W. W. Wilshire. | 2 |
| A common error makes law. Coke. | 3 |
| A corrupt society has many laws. Dr. Johnson. | 4 |
| A foolish judge passes a brief sentence. | 5 |
| A fox should not be on the jury at a goose’s trial. | 6 |
| A friend in court is as good as a penny in pocket. | 7 |
| A friend in court makes the process short. | 8 |
| A good cause and a good tongue, yet money must carry it. | 9 |
| A good king is better than an old law. Dutch. | 10 |
| A good word in court is better than a pound in the purse. Irish. | 11 |
| A lawsuit for a maravedi consumes a real’s worth of paper. Spanish. | 12 |
| A lawsuit is civil war. German. | 13 |
| A litigious man, a liar. | 14 |
| A long lawsuit is the lawyer’s vintage. German. | 15 |
| A pennyweight of love is worth a pound of law. | 16 |
| A person ought not to be judge in his own cause. | 17 |
| A pretty woman wins the lawsuit. German. | 18 |
| A prisoner is covered all over with the armor of the law. Erskine. | 19 |
| A promise against law or duty is void in its nature. | 20 |
| A rat may very ill plead the law. | 21 |
| A rich knave is a libel on the laws. | 22 |
| A silent man’s words are not brought into court. | 23 |
| Abundance o’ law braks nae law. | 24 |
| Accusing is proving where malice and force sit judges. | 25 |
| Agree, for the law is costly. | 26 |
| Agree with thine adversary quickly. New Testament. | 27 |
| All the matter’s not in my lord judge’s head. | 28 |
| An indifferent agreement is better than carrying a cause at law. | 29 |
| An ounce of favor goes further than a pound of justice. French. | 30 |
| An upright judge has more regard to justice than to men. | 31 |
| Arms and laws do not flourish together. Cæsar. | 32 |
| As the man is friended, so the law is ended. | 33 |
| As fast as laws are devised, their evasion is contrived. German. | 34 |
| Better no law than law not enforced. Danish. | 35 |
| Better ten guilty escape than one innocent man suffer. | 36 |
| By lawsuits no one has become rich. German. | 37 |
| Courts for cowards were erected. Burns. | 38 |
| Custom becomes law. Spanish. | 39 |
| Don’t hear one and judge two. Modern Greek. | 40 |
| Favor and gifts disturb justice. | 41 |
| First hang and draw, then hear the cause by Lindford’s law. | 42 |
| Fond of lawsuits, little wealth; fond of doctors, little health. | 43 |
| For the upright there are no laws. German. | 44 |
| Give me the making of the songs of the people; I care not who makes their laws. | 45 |
| God gives the will, necessity gives the law. Danish. | 46 |
| God help the sheep when the wolf is judge. Danish. | 47 |
| God keep me from judge and doctor. Turkish. | 48 |
| Good laws often proceed from bad manners. | 49 |
| Hard is a new law imposed on an old license. Italian. | 50 |
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| He goes safely to trial whose father is a judge. Spanish. | 51 |
| He is the best judge who knows the least. | 52 |
| He that buys magistracy must sell justice. | 53 |
| He that goes to law does as the sheep that in a storm runs to a briar. Burton. | 54 |
| He that goes to law holds a wolf by the ears. Burton. | 55 |
| He that goes to law should have his brother for the judge. South American. | 56 |
| He that has the worst cause makes the most noise. | 57 |
| He that is mediator between two litigants loses his money. Turkish. | 58 |
| He that passeth a judgment as he runs overtaketh repentance. | 59 |
| He that would thrive by law, must see his enemy’s counsel as well as his own. | 60 |
| He wastes his tears who weeps before the judge. Italian. | 61 |
| He who goes to law for a sheep loses his cow. German. | 62 |
| He who is fond of maintaining an action will soon be without the means of maintaining himself. Punch. | 63 |
| He who makes a law should keep it. Spanish. | 64 |
| He will embark in litigation even if a donkey has bitten his dog. Latin. | 65 |
| He will go to law for the wagging of a straw. | 66 |
| Hell and chancery are always open. | 67 |
| Human laws reach not thoughts. | 68 |
| If the judge be your accuser, may God be your help. Turkish. | 69 |
| If you would be a good judge hear what every one says. Portuguese. | 70 |
| I’ll make him water his horse at Highgate; i.e., I’ll sue him. | 71 |
| In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. | 72 |
| In giving judgment haste is criminal. Publius Syrus. | 73 |
| It becomes not a law-maker to be a law-breaker. Bias. | 74 |
| It is better to be tried than suspected. English State Trials. | 75 |
| Judges should have two ears, both alike. German. | 76 |
| Justice, but not in my own house. Spanish. | 77 |
| Justice oft leans to the side where the purse hangs. Danish. | 78 |
| Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish. | 79 |
| Law helps the waking; luck may come to the sleeping. Danish. | 80 |
| Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy that devours everything. Arbuthnot. | 81 |
| Laws are not made for the good. Socrates. | 82 |
| Laws catch flies and let hornets go free. | 83 |
| Laws go the way kings direct. Spanish. | 84 |
| Laws go where dollars please. Portuguese. | 85 |
| Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. Goldsmith. | 86 |
| Laws have wax noses. French. | 87 |
| Laws were made for rogues. Italian. | 88 |
| Lawsuits and wine lead to the poor-house. German. | 89 |
| Like king, like law; like law, like people. Portuguese. | 90 |
| Like the judges of Gallicia, who for a half dozen chickens will dispense with a half dozen penal statutes. Spanish. | 91 |
| Litigation and gaming bring many to want. Sri Lankan. | 92 |
| Little do you know what a gloriously uncertain thing the law is. Plautus. | 93 |
| Little thieves are hanged by the neck, and great thieves by the purse. Italian, Dutch. | 94 |
| Little thieves have iron chains and great thieves gold ones. Dutch. | 95 |
| Men who go to law must expect to eat their ’taters without salt. Detroit Free Press. | 96 |
| Money and friendship break the arms of justice. Italian. | 97 |
| Money and friendship bribe justice. | 98 |
| New laws, new roguery. German. | 99 |
| New lords, new laws. | 100 |
| No man may be both accuser and judge. Plutarch. | 101 |
| No man testifying to his own baseness ought to be heard. | 102 |
| No one is a good judge in his own cause. Portuguese. | 103 |
| Nothing is law that is not reason. Powell. | 104 |
| One lawsuit begets another. Latin. | 105 |
| Some go to law for the wagging of a straw. | 106 |
| Strict law is often great injustice. Cicero. | 107 |
| Take a pint an’ ’gree the law’s costly. Scotch. | 108 |
| That trial is not fair where affection is the judge. | 109 |
| The best judge must drink water. German. | 110 |
The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,
And wretches hang that jurymen may dine. Pope. | 111 |
| The hurrying of justice is the stepmother of misfortune. | 112 |
| The Jews spend at Easter, the Moors at marriages, and the Christians in suits of law. | 113 |
| The judge is condemned when the guilty are acquitted. Publius Syrus. | 114 |
| The law blushes when children correct their parents. Coke. | 115 |
| The law devised, its evasion contrived. | 116 |
| The law guards us from all evils but itself. Fielding. | 117 |
| The law has a nose of wax; one can twist it as he will. German. | 118 |
| The law is not the same at morning and night. | 119 |
| The law says what the king pleases. French. | 120 |
| The laws go as kings please. Don Quixote. | 121 |
| The laws of a nation form the most instructive part of their history. Gibbon. | 122 |
| The laws sometimes sleep but never die. | 123 |
| The litigious man;—who goes to law in hopes of ruining his opponent and gets ruined himself. Punch. | 124 |
| The magistrate’s sow gets out of every scrape. Spanish. | 125 |
| The man goes to court with one suit and returns with two. German. | 126 |
| The more laws the less justice. German. | 127 |
| The more laws, the more offenders. | 128 |
| The nobleman is always in the right when the peasant sues. Russian. | 129 |
| The only thing certain about litigation is its uncertainty. Bovee. | 130 |
| The rich man transgresses the law and the poor man is punished. Spanish. | 131 |
| The strictest law is oft the highest wrong. Terence. | 132 |
| The worst of a lawsuit is that out of one there grow a hundred. Spanish. | 133 |
| There is never a lawsuit but a woman is at the bottom of it. | 134 |
| There is no law without a hole in it if one could find it out. German. | 135 |
| There is scarcely a lawsuit unless a woman is the cause of it. Juvenal. | 136 |
| Those who begin a lawsuit, plant a palm tree which never gives fruit to those who plant it. | 137 |
’Tis but to hazard my pretence
Where nothing’s certain but the expense. (To go to law.) Butler. | 138 |
| To know the law and do the right are two things. Danish. | 139 |
| To live by the bar you must live like a hermit and work like a horse. Lord Eldon. | 140 |
| To violate the law is the same crime in the emperor as in the subject. Chinese. | 141 |
| Truth is straight but judges are crooked. Russian. | 142 |
| When you go to law against the emperor, God himself should be the judge. Russian. | 143 |
| Where law ends tyranny begins. William Pitt. | 144 |
| Where there are many laws there are many enormities. | 145 |
| Where your father has been with ink, go not you with a bag; i.e., what your father has sold, go not to law for it. Spanish. | 146 |
| Who had a lawsuit about his cow, lost his calf also. German. | 147 |
| Who sues a mite will catch a mite. Oriental. | 148 |
| Who will prosecute a lawsuit must have much gold, good lawyers, much patience and much luck. German. | 149 |
| Who will win a lawsuit must have three sacks; one with briefs, one with gold and one with luck. German. | 150 |
| Who will live in peace must keep himself from women and lawsuits. German. | 151 |
| Who would win his suit must invite the judges to his table. German. | 152 |
| With law must the land be built. Danish. | 153 |
| You little know what a ticklish thing it is to go to law. Plautus. | 154 |
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