More says explicitly that no law or set of laws can totally protect the innocent (CW, vol.10, pp.163ff). Therefore, those administering the laws must treat them with the greatest respect -- but prudently, as a physician who uses all the means at his disposal to bring about a cure (CW, vol. 6, p. 261). Laws, like medicines, can be applied only by individuals; the justice that results will be proportionate to the prudence and courage and temperance of those who apply them....

Law alone, therefore, will never be enough to insure justice. More was convinced that statesmen will always be needed, good people whose words and good living persuasively teach the spirit of the laws.... Without diligent statesmen, the thickets of the law could be easily torn done and, then, [as Robert Bolt paraphrases More], who "could stand upright in the winds that would blow?" [Thomas More on Statesmanship, pp.67-70 ,210, 213]