Proclamation 4499—Law Day, U.S.A., 1977

The rule of law protects our individual rights and defines our individual responsibilities.

Our commitment to the law deepens when we know that justice will not be delayed, denied, or dispensed with favoritism.

Our respect for the law grows when we are confident that it will remain a true champion of our basic liberties.

The duty of the legal profession is to help rather than to hamper the pursuit of these goals.

And the duty of each citizen is to work peacefully to bring about any changes in the law or its administration that might be needed to assure fair and objective treatment for all.

If our legal heritage is to be preserved, laymen and lawyers alike must understand and appreciate the role of our courts, and work to strengthen and improve our legal system.

To encourage the American people to reaffirm their commitment to the rule of law, the Congress has requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the American people to celebrate the first day of May of each year as Law Day, U.S.A. (75 Stat. 43, 36 U.S.C. 164).

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, call upon the American people to celebrate Sunday, May 1, 1977, as Law Day, U.S.A., and to reflect upon their individual and collective responsibilities for the effective administration of the law.

I call upon the clergy, educators, the communications media, the courts, the legal profession, and all interested individuals and organizations to mark this twentieth annual nationwide observance of Law Day, U.S.A. with programs and ceremonies as befits our Nation's devotion to the principle of equal justice for all. To that end, I call upon all public officials to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings on that day.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and first.

JIMMY CARTER