IMPORTANT LEGAL MAXIMS

1. A benefit is not conferred upon anyone against his consent.

2. A contract cannot arise of an illegal action.
3. A custom has the force of law.
4. A deed or bond found with the debtor is presumed to be paid.
5. A delegatee cannot delegate.
6. A false description does not vitiate a document.
7. A fine puts an end to legal proceedings.
8. A grant of right comes to an end on the termination of the right of the grantor.
9. A latent ambiguity in the words of written instrument may be explained by evidence, for it rose on
evidence extrinsic to the instrument and it may therefore be removed by other similar evidence.
10. A later act overrules an earlier one.
11. A legal fiction does not work loss or injustice.
12. A malicious or improper motive can not make wrongful in law an act which would be rightful
apart from such motive.
13. A mandatory cannot exceed the limits imposed upon him.
14. A mistake as to the name has no effect when there is no mistake as to who is the person meant.
15. A new law ought to regulate what is to follow, not the past.
16. A patent ambiguity in words of a written instrument cannot be cleared by the evidence extrinsic to
the instrument.
17. A person in possession is not bound to prove that what he possesses belongs to him.
18. A personal action dies with the person.
19. A presumption will stand good until the contrary is proved.
20. A privilege avails not against the state.
21. A right does not arise out of a wrong.
22. A thing adjudicated is received as the truth.
23. A thing is made and is destroyed by one and the same means.
24. A thing sold but not yet delivered is at the risk of the purchaser.
25. A thing which is similar to another thing is not the same that other thing.
26. A thing which ought not to have been done may nevertheless be perfectly valid when it is done.
27. A transaction between others does not prejudice one who was not party to it.
28. Accessory things follow principal things.
29. Agreement constitutes the law of contract.
30. Agreement gives law to the gift.
31. All things are presumed against a wrongdoer.
32. All things are presumed to have been done rightly and regularly.

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33. All things are presumed to have been legitimately done until the contrary is proved.
34. All things that are lawful are not honorable.
35. Although the grant of future interests is inoperative yet it may become a declaration precedent
which will effect on the intervention of some new act.
36. An accessory thing does not carry with it the thing to which it is accessory.
37. An accessory thing when annexed to a principal thing becomes part of that principal thing.
38. An act of the court shall prejudice no one.
39. An action does not arise from a base cause.
40. An agreement between private persons does not derogate from the public right.
41. An argument based on inconvenience is of great weight in the law.
42. An assignee is clothed with the right of his principal.
43. Bad grammar does not vitiate the deed.
44. Between armies, the law is silent.
45. By no contract can it be arranged that a man shall indemnify against responsibility for his fraud.
46. Clandestine gifts are always to be regarded with suspicion.
47. Coheirs are regarded as one person on account of the unity of title which they possess.
48. Common mistakes some times make law.
49. Consent and not cohabitation constitutes a valid marriage.
50. Consent makes law.
51. Consent takes away error.
52. Custom and agreement overrule law.
53. Custom and common usage overcome the unwritten law if it be special and interpret the written
law if it be general.
54. Custom is the best interpreter of the law.
55. Debtor is not presumed to give.
56. Effect is not given to the decision of a judge delivered in excess of his jurisdiction.
57. Effect is to be given to the last will of a testator according to his true intention.
58. Equity follows the law.
59. Every grant is to be construed as stronger as possible against the grantor.
60. Every one has liberty to renounce those things which are granted to his benefits.
61. Every thing which is built into the soil is merged therein.
62. Every will is completed by death.
63. Everymen is entitled to renounce a right introduced in his favor.
64. Everyone may keep what he has got unless and until someone else can prove a better title.
65. External actions show external secrets.

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66. Extreme law is extreme injury.
67. Fraud vitiates every thing.
68. From lapse of time all things are presumed to have been done rightly and regularly.
69. General things do not derogate from special things.
70. General words are restricted to the nature of the subject matter or the aptitude of the person.
71. God alone and not a man can make an heir.
72. Gross negligence is equivalent to fraud.
73. He is not deemed to have consented who has altered anything at the command of any one using
threats.
74. He is the father whom marriage indicates.
75. He that institutes may also abrogate.
76. He who acts through another is deemed to acts in person.
77. He who does anything by another is deemed to have done it himself.
78. He who does anything by command of a judge will not be supposed to have acted from an
improper motive: because there is an obligation to obey.
79. He who enjoys the benefit ought also bear the burden and vice versa.
80. He who exercises his legal right inflicts upon no one any injury.
81. He who gives any thing can also direct how the gift is to be used.
82. He who is first in time has the strongest claim in law.
83. He who is silent is deemed to consent.
84. He who makes mutually inconsistent statements is not to be listened to.
85. He who offends the law vainly seeks help of the law.
86. He who says everything excludes nothing.
87. He, who sticks in the letter, sticks in the bark.
88. Husband and wife are considered one person in law.
89. If a man wants to be deceived then let him be deceived.
90. Ignorance of the law, which every body is supposed to know, does not afford excuse.
91. Ignorance of those things, which every one is bound to know, does not constitute an excuse.
92. Impossibility is an excuse for the non-performance of an obligation.
93. Impotency excuses law.
94. In cases of extreme necessities, every thing is in common.
95. In conjunctives, both must be true; in disjunctives, it is sufficient if one of them be true.
96. In construing agreements, the intention of the parties rather than the words actually used should be
considered.
97. In crimes the intention and not the result is looked to.

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98. In dealing with ambiguous words, the intention of him who used them should specially be
regarded.
99. In doubtful matters, the more liberal construction should always be preferred.
100. In England, there is no interregnum.
101. In law the proximate and not the remote cause is to be regarded.
102. Inexperience is accounted a fault.
103. It concerns the state that no one should make wrongful use of his property.
104. It concerns the state the law suits be not protracted.
105. It is a bad exposition which corrupts the text.
106. It is a matter of public concern that wrongdoings are not left unpunished.
107. It is always to be presumed that children are legitimate.
108. It is an everlasting law that no positive and human law shall be perpetual and clause which
excludes abrogation is invalid from its commencement.
109. It is better for a thing to have effect than to be made void.
110. It is consent not cohabitation which makes a marriage.
111. It is in the public interest that the decisions of cases should be final.
112. It is lawful for a man to do a less thing if he is entitled to do a greater thing.
113. It is not permitted to be wiser than the law.
114. It is undoubted law that agreements which are contrary to the laws and constitutions or contrary to
good morals have no force.
115. It matters not what is known to the judge if it be known judicially.
116. It matters not whether a man gives his assent by his words or by his acts and deeds.
117. Juries are the judges of facts.
118. Justice should not only be done but it should appear to have been done.
119. Later law abrogates prior contrary laws.
120. Laws are abrogated by the same means by which they were made.
121. Legal principles must not be carried to their most extreme consequences regardless of equity and
good sense.
122. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
123. Liberal interpretation should be the rule and the words should be made to carry out the intention.
124. Like reasons make like laws.
125. Litigation is a game in which the judge is an umpire.
126. Malice supplements age.
127. Money paid is to be applied according to the wish of the person paying it.
128. Movables follow the person.

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129. Necessity gives privilege as to private rights.
130. Necessity knows no law.
131. Neither time nor place affects the king.
132. No action arises from a nude contract. (Contract without consideration)
133. No body is an heir of a living person.
134. No man ought to be a judge in his own cause, because he cannot act as a judge and at the same
time be a party.
135. No one can be at once suitor and judge.
136. No one can be judge in his own cause.
137. No one can do through another what he cannot do himself.
138. No one can go against his own deed.
139. No one can have an easement over his own property.
140. No one can improve his position by his own wrongdoing.
141. No one can take proceedings against himself.
142. No one can transfer a greater right to another than he himself has.
143. No one gives who possesses not.
144. No one is bound to accuse himself except to God.
145. No one is bound to accriminate himself.
146. No one is forbidden to use several defenses.
147. No one is required to do what is impossible.
148. No one is the heir of any one who is alive.
149. No one obtains a cause of action by his own fraud.
150. No one should be punished twice for one fault.
151. No punishment except in accordance with the law.
152. No right of action can have its origin in fraud.
153. Nobody is to be permitted to incapacitate himself.
154. Non-observance of the prescribed formalities involves the invalidity of the proceedings.
155. Not what the testator wished but what he said is considered in construing a will.
156. Of things, which do not appear, and things, which do not exist, the rule in legal proceedings is the
same.
157. One wrong does not justify another.
158. Owed at the present time, payable in the future.
159. Person alleging his own infamy is not to be heard.
160. Prior possession is a good title of ownership against all who cannot show a better.
161. Private good yields to public good.

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 IMPORTANT LEGAL MAXIMS
162. Private loss is compensated by public good.
163. Public law is not to be superseded by private agreements.
164. Public necessity is greater than private.
165. Public rights are to be preferred to private.
166. Seisin makes the stocks decent.
167. Silence is not the same thing as concealment.
168. So use your own property as not to injure your neighbors.
169. Special thing derogate from general things.
170. Special words abrogate from special ones.
171. Subsequent words added for the purpose of certainty are to be preferred to preceding words which
need certainty.
172. Surplusage does not vitiate writings.
173. The act itself does not constitute guilt unless done with guilty mind.
174. That is certain which can be made certain.
175. That system of law is best which confides as little as possible to the direction of a judge; that judge
is the best who trusts as little as possible to himself.
176. That to which man consents cannot be considered an injury.
177. That which does not appear, does not exist.
178. That which is bad from the beginning does not improve by length of time.
179. That which is built on ground that is devised, passes to the devisee.
180. That which is capable of being made certain is to be treated as certain.
181. That which is the property of nobody, belongs to our Lord the King.
182. The act of God prejudices no one.
183. The act of the law injures no one.
184. The best interpreter of things is usage.
185. The best way to construe a document is to read it as it would have read when made.
186. The burden of proof is on him who affirms a fact and not on him who denies it.
187. The burden of proof is upon him who affirms, but not upon him who denies.
188. The burden of proof lies on him who alleges and not on him who denies.
189. The clauses which are in accordance with custom and usage are implied part of every contract.
190. The condition of a possessor is the better.
191. The condition of defendant is the better.
192. The construction of deeds is to be made liberally that the thing may rather avail than perish.
193. The direct line is always preferred than the collateral.
194. The express mention of one person or thing is the exclusion of another.

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195. The immediate, not the remote cause is to be considered.
196. The incident shall pass by the grant of the principal but not the principal by the grant of incident.
197. The inclusion of one is the exclusion of another.
198. The judge does not decide question of fact and the jury do not decide question of law.
199. The King can do no wrong.
200. The king cannot confer a favour on one man to the injury and damage of other.
201. The King cannot do what is unjust.
202. The King never dies.
203. The law does not compel the impossible.
204. The law does not concern itself with trifles.
205. The law does not recognise any fraction of a day.
206. The law does not require that which is apparent to the court to be verified.
207. The law favors’ the alienation rather than accumulation of property.
208. The law has regard to the order of nature.
209. The law of England cannot be changed except by parliament.
210. The lawful heir is he who wedlock shows so to be.
211. The laws give help to those who are watchful and not to those who sleep.
212. The Lord suffers the damage.
213. The meaning of a word can be gathered from the context.
214. The place governs the act.
215. The position of the possessor is the better and that of the defended is better than that of the
plaintiff.
216. The presumption is always in favour of the negative.
217. The question is resolved by action.
218. The reason of the law ceasing, the law itself ceases.
219. The right of survivorship among merchants, for the benefits of commerce, does not exist.
220. The thing speaks for itself.
221. The thought and intents of men are not punishable.
222. The title of an assignee can be no better than that of his assignor.
223. The welfare of the people is the paramount law.
224. The will is to be taken for the deed.
225. The will of a deceased person is ambulatory until the latest moment of his life.
226. The will of a testator is ambulatory down to the very end of his life.
227. The words of deeds are to be interpreted most strongly against him who uses them.
228. There is no harm done by great caution.

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229. There is no crime nor punishment except in accordance with the law.
230. There should be no departure from the ordinary meaning of words except in so far as it appears
that the testator meant something different.
231. These are the precepts of the law to live honestly, to hurt no one and to give to every man his own.
232. Those who are mistaken are not deemed to consent.
233. Time never runs against the Crown.
234. To every one his house is his surest refuge.
235. Treasure does not belong to the King unless no one knows who hid it.
236. Unusual clauses always excite suspicion.
237. Violent presumption is always proof.
238. Water passes with the soil.
239. We dispense with the forms of law rather than that crimes and wrongs should be unpunished.
240. We will not have the laws of England changed.
241. What has been effected by agreement can be undone by agreement.
242. What I cannot do in person, I cannot do by proxy.
243. What is built on a land is to be regarded as having become part of the land.
244. What is done contrary to the law is deemed no to have been done at all.
245. What is first is truer: and what is first in time is better in law.
246. What is once mine cannot be more fully mine.
247. What the emperor determines has the force of statute.
248. Whatever is affixed to the soil belongs to the soil.
249. 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.
250. Whatsoever binds can also release.
251. When anything is commanded, everything by which it can be accomplished is also commanded.
252. When anything is granted, that is also granted without which the thing itself is not able to exist.
253. When in the words there is no ambiguity then no interpretation contrary to the actual words is to
be adopted.
254. When more is done than ought to be done, then that is considered to have been done which ought
to have been done.
255. When the cause ceases, the effect ceases.
256. When the doing of anything is forbidden then the doing of it either directly or indirectly is
forbidden.
257. When the law gives anything to anyone it gives also all those things without which the thing itself
could not exist.

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258. When the title of the King and of the subject concurs that of the King is to be preferred.
259. When there is express mention of certain thing then any thing not mentioned is excluded.
260. When two titles occur in one person it is the same as if they were in different persons.
261. When words are general they are to be taken in general sense just as words relating to a particular
thing are to be taken as referring only to that thing.
262. When you have plain words capable f only one interpretation, no explanation of them is required.
263. Where both parties are equally in fault the condition of the possessor is best.
264. Where election is once made, it cannot be revoked.
265. Where the rights of the parties are equal, the claim of the actual possessor is stronger.
266. Where there is a remedy, there is a right.
267. Where there is right, there is a remedy.
268. Whose is the soil; his is also that which is above it.
269. Words are to be interpreted in accordance with the subject matter.
270. Words are to be interpreted in such a way as to give them some effect.
271. Words are to be understood that the object may be carried out and not failed.
272. Words must be construed against them who use them.
273. Words ought to be made subservient to the intent and not the other way about.
274. Words to which reference is made in an instrument have the same operation as if they were
inserted in the instrument referring to them.
275. Words which are of no effect by themselves are effective when combined.
276. You must not vary the words of a statute.

Without recourse to me: An agent who so endorses a bill of exchange protects himself from liability.

Sus; per coll = Suspendatur per collum = Let him be hanged by the neck.

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