The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws” is a famous maxim attributed to the Roman historian and politician Publius Cornelius Tacitus (c. 56 – c. 120 AD).
The quote, often cited in Latin as Corruptissima republica plurimae leges (from his work Annals, Book III, Section 27), suggests that a high volume of laws and regulations is a sign of societal decay and a dishonest government, rather than a sign of a well-ordered society.
Key Aspects of the Quote
- Mask for Dysfunction: When a state loses its moral integrity, it often creates excessive, complex laws to control its citizens and mask the underlying corruption.
- Protection of Power: In a corrupt system, laws are often tailored to protect the interests of those in power rather than to serve justice, enabling bribery and patronage.
- Control over Liberty: As trust in the system collapses, corrupt governments tend to use laws as tools of oppression to suppress dissent.
- Ineffectiveness: Tacitus implies that adding more laws is useless if the underlying ethical foundation of the state is gone.
Personal Remarks
We’re witnessing what feels like a sudden push by EU institutions to increase control over news and social media.
To me, this seems closely tied to the aftermath of COVID-19 and the vaccine debate. I wonder whether leaders like Ursula von der Leyen fear that difficult questions will eventually be asked about the decisions that were made.
Personally, I know people who passed away after receiving the vaccines, and experiences like that make the whole situation feel deeply troubling. At times it even feels like a massive pharmacological-financial power play, where enormous sums of money moved around with very little transparency.
It also raises questions about power and accountability. Ursula von der Leyen chose to base her office in the Berlaymont building in Brussels — a place with special institutional protections — which can make EU leadership feel distant from ordinary legal scrutiny.
More and more, I find myself wondering who our institutions truly serve. Europe often positions itself as giving lessons to the rest of the world about democracy and governance, yet many citizens feel that EU institutions are no longer working for the people, but for interests we don’t fully see or understand.