See the law is an ass on Wiktionary
{ "head_templates": [ { "args": {}, "expansion": "the law is an ass", "name": "en-proverb" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "proverb", "senses": [ { "categories": [ { "kind": "other", "name": "English entries with incorrect language header", "parents": [ "Entries with incorrect language header", "Entry maintenance" ], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "English proverbs", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Entries with translation boxes", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with 1 entry", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with entries", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Russian translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "topical", "langcode": "en", "name": "Law", "orig": "en:Law", "parents": [ "Justice", "Society", "All topics", "Fundamental" ], "source": "w" } ], "examples": [ { "ref": "1654, attributed to George Chapman but probably Henry Glapthorne, Revenge for Honour:", "text": "Ere he shall lose an eye for such a trifle... For doing deeds of nature! I'm ashamed. The law is such an ass.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1838, Charles Dickens, chapter 61, in Oliver Twist:", "text": "\"If the law supposes that,\" said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, \"the law is a ass—a idiot.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1917, Henry De Vere Stacpoole, chapter 29, in The Man Who Lost Himself:", "text": "I'm not one of those who think the Law is an ass, no, there's a great deal of common sense in the Law of England.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1994 May 14, James Cusick, “Loophole gives knifeman freedom”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2014-07-18:", "text": "Mr Bell said: \"The law is an ass. It is a shocking situation when a dangerous criminal can walk free by evading recapture for a month.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "2013 July 16, Kathleen Parker, “Unanswered questions in Trayvon Martin case”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2014-07-18:", "text": "[N]o matter the legal definitions that guided them, it seems impossible that someone’s young son, guilty of nothing, should die while his killer walks. Adages become such for a reason: The law is an ass.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "The law, as created by legislators or as administered by the justice system, cannot be relied upon to be sensible or fair." ], "id": "en-the_law_is_an_ass-en-proverb-qObbxMlo", "links": [ [ "legislator", "legislator" ], [ "justice", "justice" ], [ "relied", "rely" ], [ "sensible", "sensible" ], [ "fair", "fair" ] ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "the law is a ass" }, { "tags": [ "misconstruction" ], "word": "the law is an arse" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "note": "зако́н — что ды́шло: куда́ повернёшь, туда́ и вы́шло (zakón — što dýšlo: kudá povernjóšʹ, tudá i výšlo) (law is like a shaft of the cart^ goes wherever you turn it)", "sense": "law cannot be trusted to be sensible or fair" }, { "code": "ru", "english": "there's no truth in the court of law", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "v sudé právdy net", "sense": "law cannot be trusted to be sensible or fair", "word": "в суде́ пра́вды нет" } ] } ], "word": "the law is an ass" }
{ "head_templates": [ { "args": {}, "expansion": "the law is an ass", "name": "en-proverb" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "proverb", "senses": [ { "categories": [ "English entries with incorrect language header", "English lemmas", "English multiword terms", "English proverbs", "English terms with quotations", "Entries with translation boxes", "Pages with 1 entry", "Pages with entries", "Quotation templates to be cleaned", "Terms with Russian translations", "en:Law" ], "examples": [ { "ref": "1654, attributed to George Chapman but probably Henry Glapthorne, Revenge for Honour:", "text": "Ere he shall lose an eye for such a trifle... For doing deeds of nature! I'm ashamed. The law is such an ass.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1838, Charles Dickens, chapter 61, in Oliver Twist:", "text": "\"If the law supposes that,\" said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, \"the law is a ass—a idiot.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1917, Henry De Vere Stacpoole, chapter 29, in The Man Who Lost Himself:", "text": "I'm not one of those who think the Law is an ass, no, there's a great deal of common sense in the Law of England.", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "1994 May 14, James Cusick, “Loophole gives knifeman freedom”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 2014-07-18:", "text": "Mr Bell said: \"The law is an ass. It is a shocking situation when a dangerous criminal can walk free by evading recapture for a month.\"", "type": "quote" }, { "ref": "2013 July 16, Kathleen Parker, “Unanswered questions in Trayvon Martin case”, in Washington Post, retrieved 2014-07-18:", "text": "[N]o matter the legal definitions that guided them, it seems impossible that someone’s young son, guilty of nothing, should die while his killer walks. Adages become such for a reason: The law is an ass.", "type": "quote" } ], "glosses": [ "The law, as created by legislators or as administered by the justice system, cannot be relied upon to be sensible or fair." ], "links": [ [ "legislator", "legislator" ], [ "justice", "justice" ], [ "relied", "rely" ], [ "sensible", "sensible" ], [ "fair", "fair" ] ] } ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "the law is a ass" }, { "tags": [ "misconstruction" ], "word": "the law is an arse" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "ru", "lang": "Russian", "note": "зако́н — что ды́шло: куда́ повернёшь, туда́ и вы́шло (zakón — što dýšlo: kudá povernjóšʹ, tudá i výšlo) (law is like a shaft of the cart^ goes wherever you turn it)", "sense": "law cannot be trusted to be sensible or fair" }, { "code": "ru", "english": "there's no truth in the court of law", "lang": "Russian", "roman": "v sudé právdy net", "sense": "law cannot be trusted to be sensible or fair", "word": "в суде́ пра́вды нет" } ], "word": "the law is an ass" }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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