PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dick the Butcher
CONTEXT:
CADE
Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows
reformation. There shall be in England seven
halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped
pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony
to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in
common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to
grass: and when I am king, as king I will be,—
ALL
God save your majesty!
CADE
I thank you, good people. There will be no money. Everyone
will eat and drink on me, and I will dress them all in one
uniform, so that they may get on like brothers and worship
me, their lord.
DICK
The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
CADE
Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable
thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should
be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled
o’er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings:
but I say, ’tis the bee’s wax; for I did but seal
once to a thing, and I was never mine own man
since. How now! who’s there?
DUTCH:
Als het eerste wat wij doen, willen wij alle advocaten
doodslaan.
MORE:
NYT: June 1990:
Shakespeare’s exact line ”The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” was stated by Dick the Butcher in ”Henry VI,” Part II, act IV, Scene II, Line 73. Dick the Butcher was a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, who thought that if he disturbed law and order, he could become king. Shakespeare meant it as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society.
CITED IN E&W LAW: Miller, R (On the Application Of) v The College of Policing & Anor [2020] EWHC 225 (Admin) (14 February 2020)
CITED IN USE LAW;
Walters v. Nat’l Ass’n of Radiation Survivors, 473 U.S. 305 (U.S. 1985)
[The] statement (“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”) was spoken by a rebel, not a friend of liberty. … As a careful reading of that text will reveal, Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government;
Williams v. First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Arlington, 651 F.2d 910, 926 (4th Cir. 1981);
First Wisconsin Mortgage Trust v. First Wisconsin Corporation, 571 F.2d 390, 399 (7th Cir. 1978); Wagoner v. Wagoner, 176 Cal. App.3d 936, 943, 222 Cal. Rptr. 479, 483 (1986); Glenbrook Road Association v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 605 A.2d 22 n.5 (D.C. 1992)(“In spite of the oft-quoted declaration by a follower of the outlaw Jack Cade that … we are not prepared to equate a reputable law school with a junk yard or with some other trade or industry ‘commonly known as objectionable and obnoxious.'”);
Thompson v. U.S., 546 A.2d 414 n.24 (D.C. 1988);
Greene v. Greene, 56 N.Y.2d 86, 96,436 N.E.2d 496,502,451 N.Y.S.2d 46 (1982);
People v. Hobson, 39 N.Y.2d 479, 485, 348 N.E.2d 894, 384 N.Y.S.2d 419, 42.3 (1976);
People v. Ryan, 204 Mise. 861,867, 124 N.Y.S.2d 690,696 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1953).
Three-looped=Ref to the hoops on a beer pot, often used as a measure
Small beer=Weak, diluted beer
Compleat:
Small beer=Dun bier
Topics: cited in law, , law/legal, misquoted, justice, evidence