"Do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?"
The Devil Speech
One of my all time favorite films is A Man For All Seasons. I was reminded of it just yesterday when my oldest daughter and I chatted yesterday (She is a first year law student). I happened to call in a study group for her property class and she posed to me a choice between two questions/ statements regarding “silence” within the framework of law and how it assumes the asset of the party being silent.
A wry smile came across my face as I sat on the couch watching the Buccaneers play…remembering how many times I played for her YouTube clips of the great Paul Scofield in that classic. “Qui tacet consentiret" I said into the phone…giving my voice a slightly British ring to it “The maxim of the law is "Silence gives consent." If therefore you wish to construe what my silence betokened, you must construe that I consented, not that I denied”
I heard a gasp….a “damn it” from the young minds on the other end of the phone. I reminded Kiera of how many times I wanted her to watch that film and how sometimes her old man had a method to his madness.
She was “humbled” as she is apt to say in her 1L year. I cheered her up and reminded her that making mistakes and errors is how one learns.
So….even better than the “Silence give consent” clip is one of my favorites of all time. Known as “The Devils Speech”
In this scene, Sir Thomas and his family are having a meal, and Richard Rich comes to solicit favor from Sir Thomas, Chancellor of England at the time for favor by reporting on the intrigue against Sir Thomas by Cromwell relative to the Oath of Supremacy.
The text is here for those of you afraid of clicking links:
William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all 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 you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”
I so very wish that we did a better job of instructing our citizens on why our laws exist. Indeed, I wish that many of our lawyers were instructed as well so that the law was venerated and not abused. All too often we see personal injury, frivolous suits, and the abuse of the law in both its prosecution and application.
We must be and should be a nation of laws that provide a place for civil society to thrive. The process of making and enforcing, and application must be adhered to blindly and properly in order for a nation to bind and hold up under the strains of life.
I leave you with the final scene from A Man For All Seasons. The sentencing. More maintained his silence as he knew it to be his safety net as he believed in the law….remember the 5th amendment and “Qui tacet consentiret". Anyway Richard Rich testify falsely….More is convicted and thus convicted takes the opportunity to unburden himself of his silence and states his case. Wipe clean the religious argument made as it tints the message but follow the legal logic. He makes a compelling argument in his summation indeed.