IV. Play and Law
“The judge's wig, however, is more than a mere relic of antiquated professional dress. Functionally it has close connections with the dancing masks of savages. It transforms the wearer into another ″being″. And it is by no means the only very ancient feature which the strong sense of tradition so peculiar to the British has preserved in law. The sporting element and the humour so much in evidence in British legal practice is one of the basic features of law in archaic society.”
Read more about this topic: Homo Ludens (book)
Famous quotes containing the words play and/or law:
“And what’s he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free I give, and honest,
Probal to thinking, and indeed the course
To win the Moor again?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In law it is a good policy to never plead what you need not, lest you oblige yourself to prove what you can not.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)