{"id":4131,"date":"2015-10-30T07:19:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T12:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?p=4131"},"modified":"2015-10-30T09:04:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T14:04:25","slug":"if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/","title":{"rendered":"“If The Law Supposes That,” Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, “The Law Is A Ass – A Idiot”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"1024px-Brass_scales_with_cupped_trays\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words.<\/p>\n

Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully defined.<\/p>\n

Precise meanings are assigned to certain words so that the parties thoroughly understand both their legal rights and<\/em>\u00a0obligations arising from their voluntary agreement.<\/p>\n

When contracts are left unclear, and often even when they are not, lawsuits naturally arise.<\/p>\n

Laws passed by federal, state, and local legislatures, on the other hand, sometimes purposefully allow for some ambiguity \u2013 whether because political compromise demanded it, or because of an expectation that the executive branch (through appropriate administrative regulation and enforcement) will better address those situations not directly contemplated by the statute itself.<\/p>\n

Vague statutes or regulations, ones which overreach, and\u00a0ones which violate some higher law<\/em>, may well be struck down and voided as they make their way through the governing legal process.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, even well-intentioned laws are applied in irrational, disproportionate, and harmful ways, contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of the words and meanings behind them.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, as Dickens\u2019 character in Oliver Twist<\/em>\u00a0humorously and pointedly observed, The Law Is a Ass<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s reading<\/a>, once again, reminds us that Christ came to not to\u00a0abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>it:<\/p>\n

\u00a0On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
\nat the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
\nand the people there were observing him carefully.
\nIn front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
\nJesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,
\n\u201cIs it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?\u201d
\nBut they kept silent; so he took the man and,
\nafter he had healed him, dismissed him.
\nThen he said to them
\n\u201cWho among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,
\nwould not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?\u201d
\nBut they were unable to answer his question.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rejecting the misapplication of the sabbath law \u2013 and, perhaps more importantly, man\u2019s selfish and cruel hardheartedness \u2013 Christ healed the man.<\/p>\n

The law is, of course, important, essential, and an ever-present source of our protection and growth.<\/p>\n

Christ did not in any way reject or change it.<\/p>\n

But He wants us to understand that the law does not exist in a vacuum.<\/p>\n

Mercy, love, charity, and kindness must exist side-by-side with the law.<\/p>\n

In fact, they are\u00a0an integral\u00a0part of the moral law.<\/p>\n

We all too often forget that.<\/p>\n

And when we do, it\u2019s not so much that the law is\u00a0a ass<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0all the\u00a0more likely that we<\/em> are.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully defined. Precise meanings are assigned to certain words so that the parties thoroughly understand both their legal rights and\u00a0obligations arising from their voluntary agreement. When contracts are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1976,"featured_media":4135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"If The Law Supposes That," Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, "The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""If The Law Supposes That," Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, "The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Pending\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T12:19:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T14:04:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/454\/2015\/10\/1024px-Brass_scales_with_cupped_trays.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Zampino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Zampino\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"If The Law Supposes That,\\\" Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, \\\"The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-30T12:19:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-30T14:04:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7\"},\"description\":\"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“If The Law Supposes That,” Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, “The Law Is A Ass – A Idiot”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/\",\"name\":\"Grace Pending\",\"description\":\"Verso L'alto\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7\",\"name\":\"Tom Zampino\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tom Zampino\"},\"description\":\"Tom Zampino is an attorney in private practice in New York City who makes his home on Long Island. He and his beautiful and accomplished wife have raised two fantastic daughters, four cats, two dogs, and various other domesticated creatures over the past three decades.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/author\/tzampino\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"If The Law Supposes That,\" Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, \"The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot\"","description":"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"If The Law Supposes That,\" Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, \"The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot\"","og_description":"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/","og_site_name":"Grace Pending","article_published_time":"2015-10-30T12:19:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-30T14:04:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/454\/2015\/10\/1024px-Brass_scales_with_cupped_trays.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Zampino","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Zampino","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/","name":"\"If The Law Supposes That,\" Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, \"The Law Is A Ass - A Idiot\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-30T12:19:35+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-30T14:04:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7"},"description":"As a practicing lawyer for almost 30 years, I have come to fully appreciate the power and the impact of words. Terms in a contract are, usually, carefully","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/2015\/10\/if-the-law-supposes-that-said-mr-bumble-squeezing-his-hat-emphatically-in-both-hands-the-law-is-a-ass-a-idiot\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“If The Law Supposes That,” Said Mr. Bumble, Squeezing His Hat Emphatically In Both Hands, “The Law Is A Ass – A Idiot”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/","name":"Grace Pending","description":"Verso L'alto","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/59d96d1b788f2ef8f59caf1e224b1cd7","name":"Tom Zampino","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/de015d84c828f685f4f9ff8d90e60e5c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tom Zampino"},"description":"Tom Zampino is an attorney in private practice in New York City who makes his home on Long Island. He and his beautiful and accomplished wife have raised two fantastic daughters, four cats, two dogs, and various other domesticated creatures over the past three decades.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/author\/tzampino\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tomzampino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}