Precision and certainty are often of more importance to the rules of law than their abstract justice.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) Settled and predictable rules — even if imperfect in individual cases — serve the public better than rules that bend to abstract fairness, because certainty allows men to order their affairs.

Where this applies

• A bright-line rule requires that wills be signed by two witnesses, and a court enforces it even though only one witness was available and the testator's intent was clear, because certainty of rules matters more than abstract fairness in individual cases.
• A statute of limitations bars a claim filed one day late, and the court refuses to make an exception despite the plaintiff's sympathetic circumstances, because predictable rules allow people to order their affairs.
• A law requires contracts for the sale of land to be in writing, and the court enforces the requirement even when both parties agree the oral deal was made, because precision in the rules serves the public better than flexible justice case by case.