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NeCede's

Maxim 7.9.6

Resist beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the evil has gathered strength through long delay.

Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur cum mala per longas convaluere moras.

Source: 2 Inst. 299; Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 91 Difficulty 1/5 — Foundational

Explanation

Prevention is superior to cure — a wrong resisted at its inception is far easier to overcome than one allowed to entrench itself through indifference or delay.

Where this applies

  • We should have challenged this regulation when it was first proposed — now it's entrenched.
  • The time to stop government overreach is at the beginning, not after it's been going on for years.

Topics

Remedy

Legal domains

constitutionalprocedural

See also

Cite this maxim

NeCede Max. 7.9.6 — Resist beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the evil has gathered strength through long delay. — 2 Inst. 299; Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 91 (Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur cum mala per longas convaluere moras.)

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