Plus loyaliste que la loi

[UPDATE - High Court judges says PSNI 'wrongly facilitated' loyalist marches. I.e. the marches were illegal and were done illegally and unchallenged - read here.]

Brigid Brophy wrote in the Spectator Magazine in June 1981 here:

"The Northern Irish “loyalists” soon found themselves plus loyaliste que la loi and, indeed, in positive conflict with overall British law."

S. Nelson wrote in 1984 a book 'Ulster's Uncertain Defenders: Protestant Paramilitary and
Community Groups and the Northern Ireland Conflict' (Belfast, 1984). On page 9 he said:

"Who are the loyalists of Ulster?... They are loyal to GB yet ready to disobey her; they revere law & authority, then break the law"

Maya Jasanoff wrote here of the loyalists around the time of American Independence:

"Refusing to abide by the law, calling for the suspension of regular government, these were genuinely revolutionary challenges. And they called themselves "loyalists"? The loyalist’s radical behaviour left British policy-makers scratching their head."

Lord Sydney, Home Secretary (1783-1789) said of them:

"It is not a little extraordinary that men who profess to have suffered for their loyalty to the Crown in adherence to the British Constitution, should so far forget themselves and the duty they owe themselves and the duty they owe to his Majesty as to be guilty of the most daring attempts against his Royal authority and that Constitution."

Daniel Hannan said: It is an odd form of loyalism that manifests itself in attacks on the Crown's officers.

Flag protesters are making a key error: they are now damaging the cause and brand they seek to promote. Get off the streets and into talks.
— Alex.Kane (@AlexKane221b) December 21, 2012

Of course as Lord Denning said: "Be you never so high, the law is above you."

Previous post in the series with cartoon from Ian Knox here. In that piece I explained that loyalist violence weakens the Union. Another post on that issue here and here. On loyalism's "phantom fears" here and here. Irish protestant Senator, David Norris, on loyalism here. My blog post with an English man's view of loyalism here. Welsh man here, who sees them as "unBritish". On Raymond Lavery and the need for a political education programme here and here. Daniel Hannan on loyalism here. Ian Knox cartoons on loyalism here and here. Yelling LUNDY is the hallmark of authoritarianism here. Plato's loyalist cave here and here. Loyalist marches are a "pardody" of culture, here. Newton Emerson on loyalism and paramilitarism as cause of disadvantage here.