# Reading > Who Said That? >  urgent: "Justice too long delayed is justice denied"

## lolitsjohn

In Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham City Jail", King alludes to a "distinguished jurist of yesterday" who reputedly said "Justice too long delayed is justice denied". 

A google search yields that Thurgood Marshall may have said this statement. But that's unlikely, not only because I can't find a reputable source, but because Marshall was NOT a distinguished jurist at the time of Letter from Birmingham City Jail's publication (he wasn't appointed to the Supreme Court till 1967). 


Someone suggested to me that Oliver Wendell Holmes may have said it. He is a distinguished jurist, after all. But I can't find any record of him saying it.


If someone can find the source to whom King is quoting, it would be of great help to me. Unfortunately, my paper is due tomorrow, so I need to find out by tonight.

----------


## Virgil

Sorry John. I looked but could only find MLK's quote.

----------


## Walter

http://thinkexist.com/quotation/just...ed/227920.html

William E. Gladstone said "Justice delayed, is Justice denied" according to that link.

Sorry to be surfing so late. Best of Luck.

----------

