Law in Poetry - I

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

- Portia's 'Mercy Speech' in "Merchant of Venice" - Act IV, Scene I.

The Law That Lawyers Know About!!!
(copied from http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1392.html)

The law the lawyers know about
Is property and land;
But why the leaves are on the trees,
And why the wind disturbs the seas,
Why honey is the food of bees,
Why horses have such tender knees,
Why winters come and rivers freeze,
Why Faith is more than what one sees,
And Hope survives the worst disease,
And Charity is more than these,
They do not understand.

- H.D.C. Pepler.

Both these poems reflect two different views about the law and the lawyers. While the first portrays a lawyer who understands the 'soft law' as it were and feels free to use concepts other than strictly legal ones such as religion and morality to try and achieve the ultimate aim of justice, the other one condemns the law and lawyers as being mainly positivistic in their approach and being insensitive to ethics, morality and the natural laws.

It is for each to decide which version to accept. All that I say is, lawyers do what they can to achieve the best for their clients. Just as members of any other profession do.

They that have the power to hurt and will do none...

They that have the power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces,
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.

The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
the basest weed outbraves his dignity.

For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

- William Shakespeare