Joseph P. Bradley Quotes

Powerful Joseph P. Bradley for Daily Growth

About Joseph P. Bradley

Joseph P. Bradley (February 14, 1813 – January 22, 1892) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1870 until his death in 1892. Born in Bridgeton, New Jersey, Bradley showed early promise in academics and law. He graduated from Princeton University in 1830 and was admitted to the bar in 1834. Influenced by Daniel Webster, Bradley developed a reputation as an eloquent orator and a formidable trial attorney in his native state of New Jersey. His political career began in 1852 when he was elected as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1860. During the American Civil War, Bradley supported President Abraham Lincoln but opposed emancipation. After Lincoln's assassination, he switched parties and became a Republican. In 1870, during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, Bradley was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. As a justice, Bradley is best known for his dissenting opinion in the landmark case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886), where he inadvertently created the legal fiction that corporations are persons under the law. His tenure also saw significant decisions on topics such as civil rights, voting rights, and constitutional law. Bradley's major works extend beyond his judicial career. He authored several books including "The Law of Corporations" (1869) and "A Constitutional History of the United States" (1896), published posthumously. His life and work continue to influence American law and politics today.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Liberty finds no refuge in a garage or a stable."

This quote by Joseph P. Bradley suggests that personal freedom and liberty cannot be confined to private spaces such as garages or stables, but rather require the protection of broader society. It implies that individual liberties are not only about personal rights, but also about the ability to participate in and contribute to the larger community, which requires a more expansive definition of liberty beyond one's immediate surroundings. In other words, true freedom requires societal recognition and protection, rather than being relegated to the confines of private spaces.

"The Fourteenth Amendment was primarily designed to protect the newly freed Negroes."

This quote by Joseph P. Bradley suggests that the primary intention behind the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, which granted citizenship to African Americans and defined their rights under the law, was to safeguard the recently emancipated black population from discrimination following the end of slavery. It underscores the historical context in which this amendment was passed, emphasizing its significance for racial equality.

"A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law."

This quote emphasizes that a corporation is a legal construct or entity, not a physical one. It signifies that corporations don't have physical presence or consciousness; they exist solely as an abstraction recognized by the law for the purposes of conducting business and protecting its stakeholders through limited liability.

"The Constitution does not provide for the punishment of the individual by the State for his belief or opinions, however unwise, irrational, or criminally indifferent they may be."

This quote emphasizes the fundamental freedom of individuals to hold personal beliefs or opinions without fear of state-imposed punishment. The U.S. Constitution protects this right to maintain individual autonomy, intellectual diversity, and promote free thought and expression. It signifies that the legal system values reason and rationality over coercion in matters of opinion, upholding the democratic ideal that every person should be entitled to their beliefs, even if others find them unwise or irrational.

"This court has no power to extend its writ of error coram nobis."

This quote, from Justice Joseph P. Bradley, comes from a case in U.S. legal history where the Supreme Court was discussing the limits of their authority. The phrase "writ of error coram nobis" is a legal tool that allows a person to request a reopening of a closed case due to newly discovered evidence. In this context, Justice Bradley's statement means that the Supreme Court does not have the power or jurisdiction to issue such a writ themselves; it can only be issued by lower courts under specific circumstances. The quote serves as a reminder of the court's limited power and the importance of following proper legal procedures.

It is the duty and high privilege of every human being to endeavor to improve himself. Effort at self-improvement is the definition sometimes given for religion. It may relate to our actions or to our convictions. In our actions we should aim at goodness; in our convictions, at truth.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Aim, Self-Improvement, Convictions

The perfection of style consists in the use of the exact speech necessary to convey the sense in the fewest words consistent with perspicuity, at the same time having regard to appropriateness and harmony of expression. Its greater excellencies are directness, accuracy, appropriateness and perspicuity.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Harmony, Accuracy, Use, Perfection

Civil law, as well as nature herself, has always recognized a wide difference in the respective spheres and destinies of man and woman.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Woman, Law, Always, Spheres

In teaching, regard must be had to the faculties possessed by the pupil. In childhood, memory; in youth, the understanding; in mature life, the reason is the predominating faculty.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Childhood, Memory, Reason, Pupil

When a man has emerged from slavery, there must be some stage in the progress of his elevation when he takes the rank of mere citizen and ceases to be the special favorite of the laws.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Some, Citizen, Elevation, Ceases

As marriage and the family institution constitute the foundation and chief cornerstone of civil society, it is of the greatest moment that the marriage-tie should never be dissolved save for the most urgent reason. I cannot assent, however, to the doctrine that it should never be dissolved at all.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Reason, Save, However, Dissolved

The acquisition of an accurate and easy conversation, of some skill in music, and in pure and healthful diversions, are of great benefit in fitting one for social intercourse, in which one of the greatest sources of pleasure is found.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Some, Which, Accurate, Conversation

Society cannot exist without law. Law is the bond of society: that which makes it, that which preserves it and keeps it together. It is, in fact, the essence of civil society.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Law, Fact, Which, Together

A man is most happy when he is most perfect, and he is most perfect when all his faculties are proportionately and harmoniously developed. Thus developed, nature and art and society supply him with a thousand sources of enjoyment.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Art, Perfect, Thus, Faculties

I know it is very hard to rise above the influences of party prejudice. Often, it almost drowns the sentiment of patriotism. Party rancor and party hatred are the last serpents which the genius of patriotism can crush.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Very, Which, Sentiment, Rise

All cannot rule, nor can all be ruled. All cannot plow, nor can all sow, nor reap. No more can all neglect such employments, else the race would become extinct. Each has his business to perform, his part to act. It is a duty he owes to the rest as well as to himself.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Rule, Part, Nor, Sow

The paramount destiny and mission of woman is to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. That is the law of the Creator.

- Joseph P. Bradley

Mother, Destiny, Mission, Paramount

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