We still leave unblotted in the leaves of our statute book, for the reverence and admiration of successive ages, the just and wholesome law which declares that the sturdy felon shall be fed and clothed, and that the penniless debtor shall be left to die of starvation and nakedness. This is no fiction.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Laws should protect all people equally, yet society treats criminals with basic care while abandoning debtors.
- In plain terms
- It is unjust that criminals get food while poor debtors are left to starve.
- What can you take from it?
- Justice should not treat debtors worse than criminals.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is the law fair to debtors?
- What makes a law just?
Another view
Different crimes require different legal responses.
More from Charles Dickens
Keep yourself to yourself.
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