LEGAL MAXIMS

1. Accessorium Don dueit sed sequitur suum

principale.
2. Actio personalis moritur cum persona.
3. Actus curias neminem gravabit.
4. Actus Dei vel legis nemini facit injuriam.
5. Actns non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea.
6. Ad ea quae freqnentius accidnnt jura
adaptantur.
7. Ad questionem facti non respondent
judices ; ad qusestionem juris non
respondent juratores.
8. Alienatio rei prsefertur juri accrescendi.
9. Allegans contraria non est audiendus.
10. Ambiguitas verborum latens verificatione
suppletur; nam quod ex facto oritur
ambiguum verificatione facti tollitur.

1. The accessory does not lead but follows its

principal.
2. A personal right of action dies with the
person.
3. An act of the court hurts no one.
4. The act of God or of law is prejudicial to no
one.
5. The act itself does not constitute guilt
unless done with a guilty intent.
6. The laws are adapted to those cases
which most frequently occur.
7. To questions of fact judges do not answer :
to questions of law the jury do not answer.
8. Alienation of property is favoured by the
law rather than accumulation.
9. Contrary allegations are not to bDe heard.

18. Communis error facit jus.

10. Latent ambiguity of words may be

supplied by evidence ; for ambiguity arising
upon the deed is removed by proof of the
deed.
11. An argument from inconvenience avails
much in law.
12. That which is assigned takes with it for
its use the rights of the assignor.
13. Liberal constructions of written
documents are to be made, because of the
simplicity of the laity, and with a view to
carry out the intention of the parties and
uphold the document ; and words ought to
be made subservient, not contrary to the
intention.
14. A good judge will, when necessary,
extend the limits of his jurisdiction.
15. Let a purchaser beware ; no one ought in
ignorance to .buy that which is the right of
another.
16. That is certain which is able to be
rendered certain.
17. The reason of the law ceasing, the law
itself ceases.
18. Common error makes right.

19. Consensus non concubitus facit

matrimonium : et consentire non possunt
ante annos nubiles.
20. Consensus toilet errorem.

19. Consent, and not concubinage,

constitutes marriage ; and they are not able
to consent before marriageable years.
20. Consent takes away error.

11. Argumentnm ab inconvenient! plurimum

valet in lege.
12. Assignatus utitur jure auctoris.
13. Benigne faciendse sunt interpretationes,
propter simplicitatem laicorum, ut res magis
valeat quam pereat ; et verba intentioni, non
e contra, debent inservire.

14. Boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem.

15. Caveat emptor ; qui ignorare non debuit
quod jus alienum emit.
16. Oertum est quod certum reddi potest.
17. Cessante ratione legis, cessat ipsa lex.

21. Contemporanea expositio est optima et

fortissima in lege.
22. Cuicunque aliquis quid concedit
concedere videtur et id sine quo res ipsa
esse non potuit.
23. Cnilibet in sda arte perito est credendum.
24. Cujus est solum ejus est usque ad
eoelum ; et ad inferos.
25. Cum duo inter se pugnantia reperiuntur
in testamento ultimum ratum est.
26. Cursus curias est lex curije.
27. De fide et officio judicis non reeipitur
quaestio ; sod do scientist, sivo error sit juris
aut facti.
28. De minimis non curat lex.
29. De non apparentibus, et non
existentibus, eadem est ratio.

21. A contemporaneous exposition is the

best and strongest in law.
22. The grantor of anything to another
grants that also without which the thing
granted would be useless.
23. Whosoever is skilled in his profession is
to bo believed.
24. Whose is tho land, his is also that which
is above and below it.
25. Where two clauses in a will are
repugnant one to the other, the last in order
shall prevail.
26. The practice of the court is the law of the
court.
27. Of the good faith and intention of a
judge, a question cannot be entertained ; but
it is otherwise as to his knowledge or error,
be it in law or in fact.
28. Of trifles the law does not concern itself.

38. Haeres legitimus est quern nuptise

demonstrant.
39. Ignorantia facti excusat ; ignorantia juris
non excusat.
40. Impotentiae excusat legem.

29. Of things which do not appear and things

which do not exist, the rule in legal
proceedings is the same.
30. The Lord's day (Sunday) is not juridical,
or a day for legal pro-ceedings.
31. To every one, his house is his surest
refuge ; or, every man's house is his castle.
32. From that which goes before, and from
that which follows, is derived the best
interpretation.
33. Prom fraud a right of action does not
arise.
34. The execution of the process of the law
does no injury.
35. Prom a nude contract, i.e., a contract
without consideration, an action does not
arise.
36. The express mention of one person or
thing is the exclusion of another.
37. A false description does not vitiate a
document.
38. The lawful heir is he whom wedlock
shows so to be.
39. Ignorance of the fact excuses : ignorance
of the law does not excuse.
40. Impotency excuses law.

41. In aequali jure melior est conditio

possidentis.
42. In fictione juris semper aequitas existit.

41. In equal rights the condition of the

possessor is the better.
42. In fiction of law equity always exists.

43. In jure non remota causa, sed proxima,

43. In law the proximate, and not the remote

30. Dies Dominicus non est juridicus.

31. Domus sua quique est tutissimum
refugium.
32. Ex anteeedentibus et consequentibus fit
optima interpretatio.
33. Ex dolo malo non oritur actio.
34. Executio juris non habet injuriam.
35. Ex nudo pacto non oritur actio.

36. Expressio uuius persons, vel rei, est

exclusio alterius.
37. Falsa demonstratio non nocet.

spectatur.

cause, is to be regarded.

44. Interest reipublieae ut sit finis litium.

44. It concerns the state that there be an

end of lawsuits.
45. For the benefit of commerce, there is not
any right of survivorship among merchants.
46. Later laws abrogate prior contrary laws.

45. Jus accrescendi inter mercatores, pro

beneficio commercii, locum non habet.
46. Leges posteriores priores contrarias
abrogant.
47. Licet dispositio de interesse futuro sit
inutilis tamen fieri potest declaratio
praecedens quae sortiatur effectum,
intervenicnte novo actu.
48. Modus et conventio vincunt legem.
49. Necessitas inducit privilegium quoad jura
privata.
50. Nemo debet bis vexari, si constat curiae
quod sit pro una et oadom causa.

47. Although the grant of a, future interest is

invalid, yet a precedent declaration may be
made, which will take effect on the
intervention of some new act.
48. Custom and agreement overrule law.

51. Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa.

49. Necessity induces or gives a privilege as

to private rights.
50. No man ought to be twice punished, if it
be proved to the court that it be for one and
the same cause.
51. No one should be judge in his own cause.

52. Nemo est haeres viventis.

52. No one is heir of the living.

53. Nemo patriam in qua natus est exuere

nee ligeantiae debitum ejuraro possit.
54. Nemo tenetur seipsum accusare.

53. A man cannot abjure his nativo country,

nor the allogiance he owes his sovereign.
54. No one is bound to criminate himself.

55. Nihil tarn conveniens est naturali

aequitati quam unumquodque dissolvi eo
ligamine quo ligatum est.
56. Nimia subtihtas in jure reprobatur, et
talis certitudo certitudinem confundit.

55. Nothing is so agreeable to natural equity

as that, by the like means by which anything
is bound, it may be loosed.
56. Nice and subtle distinctions are not
sanctioned by the law; for so, apparent
certainty would be made to confound true
and legal certainty.
57. Not right, but seisin, makes the stock.

57. Non jus, sed seisina, facit stipitem.

58. Non potest adduci oxceptio ejus roi cujus
petitur dissolutio.
59. Noscitur a sociis.

60. Nova eonatitutio, futuris formam

imponere debet, non prateritis.
61. Nullum tempus, aut locus, ocourrit regi.
62. Nullus oommodum capere potest de
injuria sua propria.
63. Omne majus eontinet in se minus.
64. Omnia prasumuntur contra spoliatorem.
65. Omnia prasurauntur rite et solenniter
esse acta.
66. Omnis innovatio pins novitate perturbat
quam utilitate prodest.

58. It is not permitted to adduce a plea of

the matter in issue as a bar thereto.
59. The meaning of a word may be
ascertained by reference to those associated
with it.
60. A new law ought to impose form on what
is to follow, not on the past.
61. No time runs against, or place affects,
the king.
62. No one can take advantage of his own
wrong.
63. The greater contains the less.
64. AH things are presumed against a wrong
doer.
65. All things are presumed to be correctly
and solemnly done.
66. Every innovation disturbs more by its
novelty than benefits by its utility.

67. Omnis ratihabitio retrotrahitur et

mandato priori Eequiparatur.
68. Optimus interpres rerum usus.
69. Persona conjuncta aequiparatur interesse
proprio.
70. Quando jus domini regis et subditi
concurrunt jus regis prseferri debet.

67. Every ratification of an act already done

has a retrospective effect, and is equal to a
previous request to do it.
68. The best interpreter of things is usage.

80. Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et

onus ; et e contra.
81. Quod ab initio non valet, in tractu
temporis non convalescit.
82. Quod remedio destituitur ipsa re valit si
culpa absit.
83. Quoties in verbis nulla est ambiguitas ibi
nulla expositio contra verba expressa fienda
est.
84. Res inter alios acta alteri nocere non
debet.
85. Respondeat superior.

69. A personal connection equals in law a

man's own proper interest.
70. When the rights of the king and of the
subject concur, those of the king are to be
preferred.
71. When the law gives anything to anyone,
it gives also all those things without which
the thing itself would be unavailable.
72. When more is done than ought to be
done, then that is considered to have been
done which ought to have been done.
73. Whatever is affixed to the soil belongs to
the soil.
74. Whatever is paid, is paid according to the
intention or manner of the party paying:
whatever is received, is received according
to the intention or manner of the party
receiving.
75. He who does anything by another, does
it by himself.
76. He who sticks to the letter, sticks to the
bark : or, he who considers the letter merely
of an instrument cannot comprehend its
meaning.
77. He who does anything by command of a
judge will not be supposed to have acted
from an improper motive ; because it was
necessary to obey.
78. Every man is able to renounce a right
introduced for himself.
79. He who is first in time has the strongest
claim in law.
80. He who enjoys the benefit ought also to
bear] the burden; and the contrary.
81. That which is bad from the beginning
does not improve by length of time.
82. That which is without remedy avails of
itself, if without fault.
83. When in the words there is no ambiguity,
then no exposition contrary to the expressed
words is to be made.
84. One person ought not to be injured by
the acts of others to which he is a stranger.
85. Let the principal answer.

86. Rex non potest peccare.

86. The king can do no wrong.

71. Quando lex aliquid alicui concedit,

concedere videtur id sine quo res ipsa esse
non potest.
72. Quando plus fit quam fieri debet videtur
etiam illud fieri quod faciendum est.
73. Quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit.
74. Quicquid solvitur, solvitur secundum
modum solventis; quicquid recipitur, recipitur
secundum modum recipientis.

75. Qui facit per alium facit per se.

76. Qui hseret litera haeret in cortice.

77. Qui jussu judicis aliquod tecerit non

videtur dolo malo fecisse, quia parere
necesse est.
78. Quilibet potest renunciare juri pro se
introducto.
79. Qui prior est tempore potior est jure.

87. Rex nunquam moritur.

87. The king never dies.

88. Roy n'est lie per ascun statute si il ne soit

expressement nosme.
89. Salus populi suprema lex.

88. The king is not bound by any statute if

he be not expressly named therein.
89. The welfare of the people, or of the
public, is supreme law.
90. So use your own property as not to injure
your neighbour's.
91. The highest rule of conduct is that which
is induced by religion.
92. "Where there is the same reason, there is
the same law.
93. Where there is a right there is a remedy.

90. Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas.

91. Summa ratio est,- quae pro religione
facit.
92. Ubi eadem ratio ibi idem lex et de
similibus idem est judicium.
93. Ubi jus ibi remedium.
94. Utile per inutile non vitiatur.
95. Verba cbartarum fortius accipiuntur
contra proferentem.
96. Verba generalia restringuntur ad
habilitatem rei Tel aptitudinem personam
97. Verba relata hoc maxime operantnr per
referentiam ut in eis m esae videntur.

98. Vigilantibua, et non dormientibuB, jura

aubveniunt.
99. Volenti non fit injuria.
100. Voluntas reputabatur pro facto.

94. That which is useful is not rendered

useless by that which is useless.
95. The words of deeds are to be taken most
strongly against him who uses them.
96. General words are restrained according
to the nature of the thing or of the person.
97. Words to which reference is made in an
instrument have the same effect and
operation as if they were inserted in the
instrument referring to them.
98. The vigilant, and not the sleepy, are
assisted by the laws.
99. That to which a man consents cannot be
considered an injury.
100. The will is to be taken for the deed.