At one time the very idea of “the law” inspired respect, admiration, and even awe. One thinks of the thrilling words of Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s play, A Man for All Seasons (1960). His future son-in-law Roper advises More to arrest a man who is likely to harm him at some point. More answers that the man must stay free even “if he were the Devil himself until he broke the law!” Roper balks at the idea of granting the devil the benefit of law, but More responds:
What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?…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,
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