“Let’s kill all the lawyers.” If you want anarchy and a lack of freedoms, that was what William Shakespeare was saying.
This is a speech from the Oklahoma Bar Association.
SHAKESPEARE AND LAWYERS: THE REST OF THE STORY
“Let’s kill all the lawyers.”
Lay people and comics like to use this gag line in many different venues. Yet,
more often than not, those quotes are made without a basic understanding of the
context or meaning of the quote. It’s kinda like selectively quoting biblical scripture. For
instance, by selectively piecing quotes together, we can find biblical authority for
committing suicide, e.g. “and Judas went out and hanged himself;.”.. “and Jesus said,
go ye and do likewise.” So, for just a few minutes, let me play Paul Harvey and discuss
the rest of the story.
As we review Shakespeare’s Henry VI, part 2, we find at this juncture in the story
Jack Cade’s rebellion was picking up steam. Dick, the butcher, was a member of this
rebellion.
As Dick utters the famous words “first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” he
was referring to ways that the rebellion might be successful. They recognized that to
succeed, they must get rid of those who knew and enforced a system of laws. They did
not want any learned and informed opposition to the rebellion they had planned against
the government. This makes sense.
If you are tempted to create anarchy through rebellion, the first objectives will be
to get rid of legal process, individual rights, and the truth. The members of the rebellion
realized it would be the lawyers that would stand up and identify how individual rights
were being abused and due process was not being afforded. It was the lawyers who
would recognize that rebellion sought to take away freedoms rather than grant them.
This concept that the lawyers would recognize was later put in context by Daniel
Webster who stated, “liberty exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.”
Regrettably, lawyers have not aided in the proper interpretation and explanation
of this quote over the years. In this regard, sometime we ask the question “was Pogo a
lawyer?” As you remember Pogo from the cartoons, in one comic strip he was dressed
up in armor with his shield and he had his sword raised to the sky as he said, “I have
met the enemy, and he is us.” Lawyers occupy a very important position in our society.
As officers of the court, it is a lawyer’s responsibility to uphold the Constitution and be
instrumental in ensuring our system of justice is efficient and effective. The oath taken
by attorneys as they are admitted to the practice of law in Oklahoma reflects that
stewardship of their talents and responsibility requires leadership. Leadership in their
profession – leadership in their community.
Without that kind of leadership, lawyers cannot live up to the accolade which
Dick, the butcher, gave to the profession when he said, “first thing we do, let’s kill all the
lawyers.” I say accolade because it was recognized that the law and those that were
sworn to uphold it were direct obstacles and impediments to those who would seek to
take away our freedoms and liberties. (portion omitted.)
So, the next time you hear someone offhandedly quote Shakespeare (maybe the
only quote they know of Shakespeare) as stating “the first thing we do, is kill all the
lawyers,” take the time to provide them the context of the statement and fill in with the
rest of the story. And, give thanks when someone challenges the application of the law
because that is a part of the meaning of freedom in this great Republic.