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Legal Maxims Summary
Legal Maxims Summary
B. POWER TO CONSTRUE
C. CONTEMPORARY CONSTRUCTION
Hoc quidem perquam durum est, sed ita lex scripta est.
It is exceedingly hard, but so the law is written.
Quando verba statute sunt speciali, ratio autem generalia, statum generaliter est
intelligendum.
When the words used in a statute are special, but the purpose of the law is general, it should be
read as the general expression.
11. Interpretatio talis in ambiguis simper fienda est ut evitetur inconveniens et absurdum.
Where there is ambiguity, the interpretation of such that will avoid inconveniences and
absurdity is to be adopted.
14. Jurae naturae aequum est neminem cum alterius detrimento et injuria fieri locupletiorem.
It is certainly not agreeable to natural justice that a stranger should reap the pecuniary produce
of another man’s work.
17. Ibi quid generaliter conceditur, inest haec exception, si non aliquid sit contras jus basque.
Where anything is granted generally, exemption from rigid application of law is implied; that
nothing shall be contrary to law and right.
C. IMPLICATIONS
Cui jurisdiction data est, ea quoque concessa esse videntur sine quibus jurisdiction explicari
non potuit.
When jurisdiction is given, all powers and means essential to its exercise are also given.
B. ASSOCIATED WORDS
Injustum est, nisi tota lege inspecta, de una aliqua ejus particula proposita indicare vel
respondere.
It is unjust to decide or to respond as to any particular part of a law without examining the
whole of the law.
Nemo enim aliquam partem recte intelligere possit antequam totum interum atque interim
perlegit.
The sense and meaning of the law is collected by viewing all the parts together as one whole
and not of one part only by itself.
Verba posterima propter certitudinem addita ad priora quae certitudine indigent sunt
referenda.
Reference should be made to a subsequent section in order to explain a previous clause of
which the meaning is doubtful.
Mutatis mutandis.
With the necessary changes.
Chapter VII – STRICT OR LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION
A. IN GENERAL
A. IN GENERAL
Leges quae retrospciunt, et magna cum cautione sunt adhibendae neque enim janus locatur
in legibus.
Laws which are retrospective are rarely and cautiously received, for Janus has really no place in
the laws.
Leges et constitutiones futuris certum est dare formam negotiis, non ad facta praeterita
revocari, nisi nominatim et de praeterito tempore et adhuc pendentibus negotiis cautum sit.
Laws should be construed as prospective, not retrospective, unless they are expressly made
applicable to past transactions and to such as are still pending.
A. REPEAL
B. In obscuris inspici solere quod versimilius est, aut quod plerumque fieri solet.
When matters are obscure, it is customary to take what appears to be more likely or what
usually often happens.
Jus constitui oportet in his quae ut plurimum accidunt non quae ex inordinato.
Laws ought to be made with a view to those cases which happen most frequently, and not to
those which are of rare or accidental occurrence.