Top
Legal Maxims and Technical Words
- Ab abusu ad usum non valet consequential – No valid conclusion as to the use of a thing can be drawn from its abuse.
- Ab antique – From old times.
- Ab assnetis non fit injuria – From things to which we are accustomed no wrong can arise.
- Ab initio – From the initial stage.
- Accessio cedit principali – This maxim embodies the doctrine of accession and means that an accessory thing, when annexed to a principal thing, thereby and thereupon becomes part of, and the property of the owner of the principal thing.
- Accessorium non ducit sed sequitur sum principale – The incident shall pass by the grant of the principal but not the principal by the grant of the incident.
- Accessorium non trabit principale – The accessory right does not control the principal.
- Accessorium sequitur principale – An accessory right follows its principal.
- Accessorius sequitur naturam sui principalis – An accessory follows the nature of its principal.
- Accusare nome se debet, nisi coram deo – No one is compelled to accuse himself, except before God.
- Acquitas agit in personam – Equity acts in person.
- Acta exteriora indicant interiora secreta – Overt acts proclaim a man’s intentions and motives.
- Actio – A means by which a person who has acquired a right may prosecute and enforce it by process of law, if it is contested.
- Actio ad sepplendam legitimam – A civil law action brought by a person claiming a statutory share of a descendant’s estate to compel the beneficiaries under the will to contribute to furnish his statutory share.
- Actio adjecticiae qualitatis – A civil law action in which the defendant was sued on a contract made for him by his agent.
- Actio arbitraria – A Roman law action in which the judex was permitted to order payment of money or to order restitution in kind, taking all the circumstances of the case into consideration.
- Actio civilis – An action based upon the civil law.
- Actio de in rem verso – A civil law action against the master of a slave on an obligation incurred by the slave, where the master had profited by the transaction and the slave had nothing.
- Actio emit – A civil law action by the vendee against the vendor to recover the thing sold upon payment of the price.
- Actio personalis moritur cum persona – A personal right of action dies with the person.
- Actori incumbit onus probandi – The burden of proof lies on the plaintiff or on the complainant.
- Actus curioe neminem gravabit – Acts of the court prejudice none.
- Actus Dei nemini facit injuriam – The act of God does injury to no man – If struck by lightening you are from a legal standpoint entirely uninjured whatever may be your own impression on the subject.
- Actus me invito non est meus actus – An involuntary act is not one’s own act.
- Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea – The act alone does not make the doer of it guilty, unless it is done with a guilty mind. Material without formal wrong doing is not a ground of liability. The presence either of wrongful intent or of culpable negligence is a necessary condition of responsibility.
- Ad idem (At the same point) – Said of negotiating parties when they are quite agreed, so that a binding contract has been made between them. So long as any new term is put forward by one party and not accepted by the other, this cannot be.
- Ad infinitum – Without limits: the infinity.
- Ad questions facit non respondent judices; ad questions legis non respondent juratores – A judge does not decide questions of fact; the jury do not decide questions of law.
- Adversus extraneous vitiosa possession prodesse solet – Prior possession is a good title of ownership against all who cannot show a better.
- Aequitas est quasi equalitas – Equity delighteth in equality.
- Aequitas factum habet quod fieri oportuit – Equity considers that as done which ought to have been done.
- Aequitus sequitur legume – Equity follows the law.
- Agentes et consentientes pari poena plectautur – Acting and consenting parties are liable to the same punishment.
- Alibi – In criminal law, else where; in another place.
- Aliud est possidere, aliud esse in possessione – It is one thing to possess, another to be in possession.
- Allegans contraria non est audiendus – Contrary allegations are not to be heard – The point is fairly well expressed in the common proverbial saying, “You cannot blow hot and cold”.
- Allegans suam turpitudinem non est audiendus – A person alleging his own infamy is not to be heard.
- Ambiguitas contra stipulatorem est – An ambiguity is taken against the party using it.
- Ambiguitas verborum latens verificatione suppletur: nam duod ex facto oritur ambiguum verification facti tollitur – A hidden ambiguity of the words may be interpreted by evidence: for an ambiguity which arose from proof of extrinsic facts may be removed in like manner.
- Ambiguitas verborum patens nulla verification excluditur – A patent ambiguity of the words cannot be removed by extrinsic evidence.
- Amicus curiae – When a court of justice is in doubt or in error in a matter of law, any of the counsel present may inform the court upon it, out of a regard for the court merely.
- Animus possidendi – Intent to exclude others from interfering with a material object.
- Animus sibi habendi – Possession is the effective realization in fact of the animus sibi habendi.
- Ante natus – A child born before the actual marriage of its parent.
- Ante netal – Before delivery
- Apices juris non sunt jura – The law must avoid the falsehood of extremes. Legal principles must not be carried to their most extreme consequences, regardless of equity and good sense. A principles valid within certain limits, becomes false when applied beyond these limits.
- Aqua credit solo – Water passes with the soil.
- Aqua currit et debt currere – Acqua flows and should be allowed to flow.
- Assumpsit – An action for the recovery of damages, whether liquidated or not.
- Atturnamentum – Transfer of mediate possession, while the immediate possession remains outstanding in some third person.
- Audi alteram partem – Hear the other side. It has long been a received, rule that no one is to be condemned, punished, or deprived of property in any judicial proceeding, unless he has had an opportunity of being heard.
- Autrefois acquit – Declared acquittal by a court.
- Autrefois convict – Convicted by court.
- A verbis legisnon est recedendum – Acts, regulations and statutes should be literally construed.
- Bellum ominium contra ommes – Everybody is at war with everybody else.
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –
- –