Justice & Law Quote by Derek Bok

A neat trick of Derek Bok's line is that it flips our usual complaint about the legal system. The problem isn't simply that the poor are under-served; it's also that the wealthy are over-served. "Far too much law" points to a world where statutes, contracts, compliance regimes, and litigation tactics become a luxury product: endless hours, endless motions, endless leverage. If you can pay, law multiplies into a strategic weapon - not just protection, but advantage.

The second half lands like an indictment: "far too little for those who cannot". Bok isn't romanticizing equal justice; he's noting a market reality. Legal help is rationed by price, and the rationing is brutal at the exact moments people need law most: eviction, family court, immigration hearings, wage theft. The subtext is that "rights" without representation are closer to slogans than safeguards.

Context matters: Bok is a lawyer and longtime Harvard president, a credential that gives the critique bite. He's not an outsider railing at courts; he's someone who understands the profession's incentives. The line also nods at a paradox of modern governance: society grows more legally complex to manage corporate power and administrative states, but that complexity itself becomes a barrier. The affluent can hire guides through the maze; everyone else gets told the maze is "the rule of law."

The intent is policy-facing: argue for legal aid, simplify procedures, expand public interest law. But it's also moral: when law becomes something you can buy more of, justice stops being a principle and starts behaving like a subscription.