Hugh Nibley
"Nephi's little sermon received more than a cool reception. Some judges who happened to be card-holding members of the Protective Association were in the crowd and they immediately demanded that Nephi be brought into court and charged with the crime of '[reviling] against this people and against our law' (Helaman 8:2). And indeed if contempt of institutions was a crime, Nephi was guilty, for he 'had spoken unto them concerning the corruptness of their law' (Helaman 8:3). Still, the judges had to proceed with some care, since they were supposed to be administering justice (Helaman 8:4), and could not be too crude and obvious in their attack, for even among the exceedingly wicked and depraved Nephites the feeling of civic virtue was perhaps as alive as it is in America today; instead of trying to lynch Nephi in fact, the crowd actually protected him from the treatment the judges would have liked to give him (Helaman 8:4)." (An Approach To The Book of Mormon, p. 387)