Law of the market
"Observance of the law plays little role in the industry. The law of the jungle prevails." — Roger Gyles, QC, in his $25 million report on the NSW building industry royal commission.
Law and the market
"We are frankly at a loss to understand both the verdict and the severity of the sentence, which seems at odds with lighter sentences for what seem to be significantly graver offences." — Bill Hughes, businessman and Alan Bond in-law after the former billionaire was sent to grow vegetables for 2
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55D> years at WA's Wooroloo prison farm for dishonest business practices. Bondy probably won't have it too hard when he gets out, as his sons Craig and John made it into the Business Review Weekly rich list for the first time this year, with assets estimated by the magazine at $35 million, and by other sources at up to $100 million.
Law and the law
"It has now been confirmed by both the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the clerk of the Campbelltown court that some unknown person locked the door of the court during the proceedings." — NSW attorney general Peter Collins after the public was illegally locked out of a hearing on drunk driving charges against a police officer.
War and the law
"The US has gone to extraordinary lengths to cooperate. We don't think any incident that happens on the battlefield can be settled in the courtroom." — The US Defence Department after a British court recorded a finding of illegal killing of nine British soldiers killed in a US air strike during the Gulf War.
Progress
"It is time we shake completely free of that era. We need to lay the days of segregation to rest, to let bygones be bygones, and rest our souls." — Zell Miller, governor of the US state of Georgia, displaying a fine grasp of cliches while announcing the removal of the slave-owners' Confederate flag from the state flag in preparation for the 1996 Olympics.
Details
"Everybody has detailed policy positions — but nobody implements them." — US billionaire and presidential candidate Ross Perot, explaining why policies don't count.
Pressing matters
"We were just getting to the environment when the time was up." — Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey on his recent meeting with Pope John Paul II.
Irish law
"We routinely carry some advertising for birth control clinics. That is wholly legal under British law." — Peter Preston, editor of the British Guardian after 2000 copies of the paper were destroyed under police supervision at Dublin airport.