Brocard

A brocard is a legal principle expressed in Latin (and often derived from past legal authorities), which is traditionally used to concisely express a wider legal concept or rule. The name comes from the Latinized name of Burchard (died 1025), bishop of Worms, Germany, who compiled 20 volumes of Regulae Ecclesiasticae ("Ecclesiastical Rules") including a collection of maxims.

For example, the sentence Inadimplenti non est adimplendum ("One has no need to respect his obligation if the counter-party has not respected his own."), is used in civil law to briefly indicate a principle (adopted in some systems) referred to as the synallagmatic contract [1].

Dura lex, sed lex 

"The law [is] harsh, but [it is] the law". It follows from the principle of the rule of law that even draconian laws must be followed and enforced; if one disagrees with the result, one must seek to change the law.

Ignorantia legis non excusat 

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse." Not knowing that one's actions are forbidden by the law is not a defense.

In claris non fit interpretatio 

When a rule is clearly intelligible, there is no need of proposing an (usually extensive) interpretation.

Iura novit curia 

The judge knows the law (technically, there is no need to "explain the law" or the legal system to a judge/justice in any given petition).

Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine praevia lege poenali 

There can be neither crime nor punishment unless there is a penal law first.

Pacta sunt servanda 

Contracts are the law or Contracts establish obligations (between those who sign them).

Quod non est in registro, non est in Mundo 

What is not reported in the (related, referring) registry, has no legal relevance. Used when a formal act (usually a recording or a transcription) is required in order to give consistence, content or efficacy to a right.

Res inter alios vel iudicata, aliis nec nocet nec prodocet 

What has been agreed/decided between people (a specific group) can neither benefit nor harm a third party (meaning: two or more people cannot agree amongst each other to establish an obligation for a third party who was not involved in the negotiation; furthermore, any benefit that may be established will have to be accepted by the third party before it can be implemented).

Sententia quae in rem iudicatam transit, pro veritate habetur 

When a definitive sentence is declared, it is considered to be the truth. In the case of a sentence in rem iudicatam (that finally consents to consider completed a judgement), its content will then be the only legally relevant consideration of a fact.

Solve et repete 

Respect your obligation first, then you can ask for reimbursement. Used in those situations in which one of the two (or more) parties needs to complete his obligation before being allowed to ask for the opposite obligation to be respected by his counter party. Usually this principle is used in fields and subjects in which a certain general steadiness or uniformity of the system has been considered a relevant value by the legislator. The case is typical of service contracts with repeated obligations (like with gas, water, electricity providers and similars), in which irregularities on one side cannot be balanced if not in a regular situation (i.e., of payments) on the other side. The customer, for example, might be asked to pay regularly the new bill, before contesting the previous one in which he found irregular calculations, and asking for a balancement with newer bills; he thus cannot by himself determine a discount in the next payment.

Ubi lex voluit, dixit; ubi noluit, tacuit 

When the law wanted to regulate the matter in further detail, it did regulate the matter; when it did not want to regulate the matter in further detail, it remained silent (in the interpretation of a law, an excessively expansive interpretation might perhaps go beyond the intention of the legislator, thus we must adhere to what is in the text of the law and draw no material consequences from the law's silence).

See also

• Legal maxim
• List of legal Latin terms
• Maxims of equity

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