The civil law is what a people establishes for itself.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) The civil law derives its authority from the consent of the people who adopt it — a statute imposed without the people's consent lacks the character of true law.

Where this applies

• A government agency issues regulations that were never authorized by any statute the people's representatives enacted, and a citizen challenges them as lacking the consent of the governed.
• A colonial territory objects to laws imposed by a distant parliament in which the colonists have no representation, arguing that civil law must originate from the people it governs.
• A homeowners association adopts rules without a vote of its members, and a homeowner argues the rules are invalid because they were not established by the people they bind.