Custom is more powerful than grant.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) Long-established custom carries more authority than a written grant — invoke this when a customary right predates and conflicts with a later conveyance or statutory license.

Where this applies

• A family has used a footpath across a neighbor's land for over a hundred years, and when the neighbor produces a deed that makes no mention of the path, the court holds the long-standing custom of passage trumps the written grant.
• A fishing community has harvested from a particular stretch of river for generations, and a new landowner's grant cannot extinguish the customary right that predates the deed.
• A village market has operated on a town square since before anyone can remember, and a recent municipal lease of the square to a private developer cannot override the established custom.