Occidens occidit: Sed lex (Thomas Morus et Solzhenitsyn)

Thōmās Mōrus

Dē Optimō Stātū Rēipūblicae Dēque Novā Insulā Ūtopiā: Liber secundus, capitulum decimum

Lēgēs habent perquam paucās. sufficiunt enim sīc institūtīs paucissimae. 

Quīn hoc in prīmīs apud aliōs improbant populōs, quod lēgum interpretumque uolūmina, nōn infīnīta sufficiunt. 

Ipsī uērō censent iniquissimum; ullōs hominēs hīs obligārī lēgibus; quae aut numerōsiōrēs sint, quam ut perlegī queant; aut obscūriōrēs quam ut ā quōuīs possint intelligī; porro causidicōs; quī causās tractent callidē; ac lēgēs uafrē disputent; prorsus omnēs exclūdunt. censent enim ex ūsū esse; ut suam quisque causam agat; eademque referat iudicī; quae narrātūrus patrōnō fuerat. 

Sīc & minus ambāgum fore & facilius ēlicī uēritātem. dum eō dīcente; quem nullus patrōnus fūcum docuit; iūdex sōlerter expendit singula; & contrā uersūtōrum calumniās simpliciōribus ingeniīs opitulātur. haec apud aliās gentēs; in tantō perplexissimārum aceruō lēgum difficile est obseruārī. 
Caeterum apud eōs unusquisque est lēgis perītus.
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Foedera quae reliquae inter sē gentēs toties ineunt; frangunt ac renouant, ipsī nullā cum gente feriunt. quorsum enim foedus inquiunt; quasi nōn hominem hominī satis nātūra conciliet quam quī contempserit, hunc uerba scīlicet putēs cūrātūrum!

Imago est fragmentum picturae: https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/auto-de-fe-presidido-por-santo-domingo-de-guzman/5564d7cb-621f-437b-b2e8-001728590173 

Alexander Isaī fīlius Solženicyn
Ex ōrātiōne A World Split Apart habitā in Universitāte Hardvardiānā annō Dominī MCMDXXVIII

Western society has given itself the organization best suited to its purposes based, I would say, one the letter of the law. The limits of human rights and righteousness are determined by a system of laws; such limits are very broad. People in the West have acquired considerable skill in interpreting and manipulating law. Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the supreme solution.
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I have spent all my life under a Communist regime and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale than the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulses.