A common-law reference, free to all
Drawn from Coke, Bacon, Blackstone, Bouvier, Broom, Wharton, Jackson, and Justinian's Digest — every maxim, with its Latin original, plain English translation, source citation, and the situations where it applies.
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What are maxims of law?
Maxims of law are not modern inventions. They are the distilled judgments of two thousand years of common-law jurisprudence — the rules that govern Coke, Bacon, Blackstone, Story, and the founding generation who built the American constitutions on top of them.
Featured maxim
A minor has the power to make his condition better, but not worse.
Meliorem conditionem suam facere potest minor, deteriorem nequaquam.
An infant may accept a beneficial grant or settle a debt, but cannot bind himself to an onerous contract or convey away his property to his own prejudice.
Co. Litt. 337; Broom, Max. 496
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