No one is considered to act with guile, or to be a wrong-doer, who uses his own right.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) No one is considered to act in bad faith or commit a wrong merely by exercising his own legal right — cite this to defeat claims of malice or tortious conduct where the defendant was simply using a right he lawfully possessed.

Where this applies

• A competitor sues a business owner for malicious interference after the owner opens a rival store nearby and draws away customers, and the court dismisses the claim because exercising the right to compete in a free market is not a wrong.
• A landlord is accused of acting in bad faith by refusing to renew a tenant's lease, but the court holds the landlord committed no wrong because she simply exercised her lawful right not to renew.
• A creditor forecloses on a property after the debtor defaults, and the debtor accuses the creditor of acting with ill intent, but the court finds no guile because the creditor merely exercised a contractual right.