John Fortescue

One would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape the punishment of death, than that one innocent person should be condemned and suffer capitally.

Sir John Fortescue (c. 1394 – c. 1480) was an English lawyer, the second son of John Fortescue, of an ancient Devon family. He was born at Norris, near South Brent, Devon.

Quotes

De laudibus legum Angliae (c. 1470)

• Moche Crye and no Wull.
  • Ch. 10 (ed. Fortescue-Aland, 1714); reported in Bartlett's, 10th ed. (1919), p. 7

    Cf. "All cry and no wool", Butler, Hudibras (c. 1663), pt. 1, canto 1, l. 852; also more cry than wool

• Muche crye and litil woll.
  • Ch. 10 (ed. Plummer, 1885)

• Some men haue said that it were good for the kyng, that the commons of Englande were made pore, as be the commons of Fraunce. For than thai wolde not rebelle, as now thai done oftentymes; wich the commons of Fraunce do not, nor mey doo; for thai haue no wepen, nor armour, nor good to bie it with all. To theis maner of men mey be said with the phylosopher, ad pauca respicientes de facili ennnciant. This is to say, thai that see but few thynges, woll sone say thair advyses. For soth theis folke consideren litill the good of the reaume of Englond, wherof the myght stondith most vppon archers, wich be no ryche men. And yf thai were made more pouere than thai be, thai shulde not haue wherwith to bie hem bowes, arroes, jakkes, or any other armour of defence, wherby thai myght be able to resiste owre enymes, when thai liste to come vppon vs; wich thai mey do in euery side, considerynge that we be a Ilelonde; and, as it is said before, we mey not sone haue soucour of any other reaume. Wherfore we shull be a pray to all owre enymyes, but yf we be myghty of owreself, wich myght stondith most vppon owre pouere archers; and therfore thai nedun not only haue suche ablements as now is spoken of, but also thai nedun to be much excersised in shotynge, wich mey not be done withowt ryght grete expenses, as euery man experte therin knowith ryght well. Wherfore the makyng pouere of the commons, wich is the makyng pouere of owre archers, shalbe the distruccion of the grettest myght of owre reaume.
  • Ch. 12 (ed. Plummer, 1885)

• It is cowardisse and lakke off hartes and corage, wich no Ffrenchman hath like vnto a Englysh man. It hath ben offten tymes sene in Englande, that iij. or iiij. theves ffor pouerte haue sett apon vj or vij trewe men, and robbed hem all. But it hath not bene sene in Ffraunce, þat vj. or vij. theves haue be hardy to robbe iij. or iiij. trewe men. Wherfore it is right selde þat Ffrenchmen be hanged ffor robbery, ffor thai haue no hartes to do so terable an acte. Ther bith therfore mo men hanged in Englande in a yere ffor robbery and manslaughter, then þer be hanged in Ffraunce ffor such maner of crime in vij yeres.
  • Ch. 13 (ed. Plummer, 1885); modernised orthography:

    It is cowardice and lack of heart and courage, which no Frenchman hath like unto an Englishman. It hath been oftentimes seen in England that three or four thieves for poverty have set upon six or seven true men, and robbed them all. But it hath not been seen in France that six or seven thieves have been hardy to rob three or four true men. Wherefore it is right seldom that Frenchmen be hanged for robbery, for they have no hearts to do so terrible an act. There be therefore more men hanged in England in a year for robbery and manslaughter than there be hanged in France for such manner of crime in seven years.

• Comparisons are odious.
  • Ch. 19 (ed. Amos, 1825); reported in Bartlett's, 10th ed. (1919), p. 7

    Cf. "Comparisons are odorous", Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598–9), act 3, sc. 5; "Caparisons don't become a young woman", Sheridan, The Rivals (1775), act 4, sc. 2

• One would much rather that twenty guilty persons should escape the punishment of death, than that one innocent person should be condemned and suffer capitally.
  • Ch. 27 (ed. Amos, 1825)

Sources

• John Fortescue-Aland (ed.) The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy (1714)
• Andrew Amos (ed.) De laudibus legum Angliæ (Cambridge, 1825)
• Charles Plummer (ed.) The Governance of England (Oxford, 1885)
• Henry Craik (ed.) English Prose Selections, vol. 1 (New York: Macmillan, 1916), p. 85
• Arthur Quiller-Couch (ed.) The Oxford Book of English Prose (1925), no. 15
• Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol. 1 (1956), bk. 3, ch. 1