CROMWELL: Yet is there a man in this court, is there a man in this country, who does not know Sir Thomas More’s opinion of this title? Of course not! But how can that be? Because this silence betokened — nay, this silence was — not silence at all, but most eloquent denial!
MORE: (with some of the academic’s impatience for a shoddy line of reasoning) Not so, Mr. Secretary, the maxim is “qui tacet consentire”: The maxim of the law is: (very carefully) “Silence Gives Consent .” If therefore you wish to construe what my silence “betokened,” you must construe that I consented, not that I denied.
CROMWELL: Is that in fact what the world construes from it? Do you pretend that is what you wish the world to construe from it?
MORE: The world must construe according to its wits. This court must construe according to the law.
Robert Bolt (1924-1995) English dramatist
A Man for All Seasons, play, Act 2 (1960)
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/bolt-robert/76003/
