About this compendium

NeCede's Maxims of Law is a comprehensive collection of 2247 legal maxims drawn from the public-domain authorities of the common law tradition. Every maxim is presented with its Latin original, an English translation, the original source citation, application notes, scenarios where it applies, and cross-references to related maxims.

Source bibliography

The maxims come from thirteen public-domain authorities spanning Roman, English, and American common law:

• Bouvier's Maxims — John Bouvier (1856)
• Broom's Legal Maxims — Herbert Broom (1874)
• Wharton's Legal Maxims — G.F. Wharton (1878)
• Morgan's English Legal Maxims — Appleton Morgan (1878)
• Peloubet's Legal Maxims — S.S. Peloubet (1880)
• Jackson's Latin for Lawyers — E. Hilton Jackson (1915)
• Bacon's Maxims — Francis Bacon (1630)
• Noy's Maxims — William Noy (1641)
• Wingate's Maxims — Edmund Wingate (1658)
• Coke's Institutes — Sir Edward Coke (1633)
• Blackstone's Commentaries — William Blackstone (1765)
• Justinian's Digest — Various jurists (533 AD)
• Weisman's Maxims of Law — Charles Weisman (1990)

Organization

The compendium is organized hierarchically into 12 books, then sections within each book, then numbered entries. The reference format is Book.Section.Number — for example, 2.1.4 is Book II, Section 1, Maxim 4. Permanent and citable: NeCede Max. 2.1.4.

How citations stay valid

Maxim references are permanent. When new maxims are added, they append within a section — no maxim ever gets renumbered. When a maxim is deprecated, its URL still resolves with a banner pointing to its replacement. This means a citation in print, in a brief, or in a personal collection keeps working forever.

Not legal advice

This site is an educational and historical reference. It is not legal advice.

License

The maxims themselves are public domain. The compilation, translations, application notes, scenarios, and code are the worldwide property of NeCede Press. All rights reserved. The site is free to use; redistribution of the enriched dataset requires written permission.

Build

Each rebuild stamps the SQLite database with a content hash derived from the source manuscript. The current build is visible in the footer of every page — verifiable transparency.