Top Maxims

All political power is inherent in the People by decree of God; none can exist except it be derived from them.

Source: American constitutional maxim; cf. Romans 13:1; Va. Declaration of Rights §2 (1776); Weisman, 51o

(English-origin maxim.) Sovereignty resides in the People, not in the government. Every exercise of government power must trace back to a grant from the People.

Individual liberties are antecedent to all government.

Source: American constitutional maxim; Declaration of Independence (1776); state bills of rights; Weisman, 51i

(English-origin maxim.) Rights existed before government was instituted. Government was created to secure rights, not to grant them. What preceded government cannot be taken by government.

The government must be under the law, because the law makes the government.

Rex debet esse sub lege, quia lex facit regem.

Source: Bl. Comm. I (1765) (citing Bracton); Tucker's Bl. Comm. I (1803); Wharton, Max. (1878); Morgan, Eng. Legal Max. (1878); Jackson, Latin for Lawyers 947 (1915); Bract., lib. 1, f. 5b; cf. Weisman, 51b

Government derives its existence from law — it cannot place itself above the law that created it. (The Latin reads *rex* / king; rendered "government" in both clauses for the American constitutional order, per Weisman, 51b.)

The main object of government is the protection and preservation of personal rights, private property, and public liberties, and upholding the law of God.

Source: Weisman, 51p

(English-origin maxim.) Government exists to protect personal rights, private property, and public liberties — any government action that undermines these objects is contrary to the very purpose for which government was established.

A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles, and a firm adherence to justice, virtue, and original law, are indispensably necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty and good government.

Source: Weisman, 51q

(English-origin maxim.) The People must regularly return to first principles of justice and original law to preserve liberty — cite this constitutional maxim (found in many state constitutions) to justify challenging government drift from foundational limits.

The derivative power cannot be greater than the original from which it is derived.

Derivativa potestas non potest esse major primitiva.

Source: Noy, Max. 16; Wing. Max. 66; Finch, Law, b. 1, c. 3; Weisman, 11b

Government cannot exercise a power greater than what the People delegated to it. What the People reserved, the government never possessed.

Power can never be delegated which the authority said to delegate never possessed itself.

Source: N.J. Steam Co. v. Merchants' Bank, 6 How. (47 U.S.) 344, 407; Weisman, 11f

(English-origin maxim.) An agent or officer cannot delegate authority that was never granted to the principal in the first place — cite this to challenge subdelegations of power where the original delegating body lacked the authority itself.

A delegated authority cannot be again delegated.

Delegata potestas non potest delegari.

Source: 2 Inst. 597; Broom, Max. 840; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1300; Weisman, 11a

Government power delegated by the People cannot be sub-delegated to private actors, corporations, or agencies without express constitutional authorization.

No one gives what he does not have.

Nemo dat quod non habet.

Source: Jenk. Cent. 250; Broom, Max. 499n; Shep. Touch. 243; Fleta, lib. 3, c. 15, s. 8

A man cannot transfer a greater right than he possesses — this applies equally to private conveyance and to government grants of authority.

As usurpation is the exercise of power, which another has a right to; so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which no body can have a right to.

Source: Locke, Treat. 2, 18, 199; Weisman, 51r

(English-origin maxim.) Usurpation is exercising power that belongs to another; tyranny is exercising power beyond any lawful right — both are unlawful, but tyranny is the graver offense because no one can ever have a right to it.

An unconstitutional Act is not a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is, in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed.

Source: Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U.S. 425, 442; Weisman, 62p

(English-origin maxim.) Any statute that exceeds the constitutional grant of authority to the legislature is a nullity from the moment of its purported enactment — no citizen is bound to obey it, no officer may enforce it, and no office or right created under it has lawful existence.

Where the law prescribes a form, the nonobservance of it is fatal to the proceeding.

Ubi lex aliquam formam praescribit, non observatio formae est fatalis.

Source: Best, Ev. Introd. s. 59; Weisman, 46d

A warrant without a signature, an indictment without a charge, a deed without a seal (where seal is required) — all are void for want of form. (Latin not located in any public-domain source in the library as of 2026-08-08; retained pending further sources.)

That which is mine cannot be taken away without my act, consent, or forfeiture.

Quod meum est sine me auferri non potest.

Source: Broom, Max. 465; Jenk. Cent. p. 251, case 41; 8 Co. 92; Dig. 50.17.11

No man loses his property except by his own act, his own negligence, or lawful forfeiture — never by the bare will of another. (Duplicate maxim — see also 2.4.4.)

It is unjust that freemen should not have the free disposal of their own property.

Injustum est, nisi tota lege inspecta, liberos homines non habere liberam potestatem rerum suarum.

Source: Co. Litt. 223a; 4 Kent, Comm. 131; Hob. 87; Weisman, 91e

A free man's control over his own property is a fundamental attribute of liberty — any restraint on disposal is a restraint on freedom itself.

No one can grant or convey what he does not own.

Source: Seymour v. Canandaigua & N.F.R. Co., 25 Barb. (N.Y.) 284, 301; Fassett v. Smith, 23 N.Y. 252; Weisman, 91aa

(English-origin maxim.) A conveyance is void if the grantor does not hold title to the thing conveyed — the purchaser takes nothing from one who has nothing to give.

If a man grant that which is not his, the grant is void.

Source: Shep. Touch. 243; Watk. Conv. 191; Weisman, 52l

(English-origin maxim.) A grant of what the grantor does not own is void ab initio — no interest passes, and the grantee acquires nothing regardless of the form of the conveyance.

Things taken or captured by pirates and robbers do not change their ownership.

Source: 1 Kent, Comm. 108, 184; Weisman, 91ii

(English-origin maxim.) Stolen goods retain their original ownership — pirates and robbers cannot pass title, and the true owner's right survives the taking.

The grant of a right comes to an end on the termination of the right of the grantor.

Resoluto jure concedentis resolvitur jus concessum.

Source: Mackeld. 179; Broom, Max. 467; Jackson

A grant cannot outlive the grantor’s own interest — when the grantor’s right expires, the grantee’s derivative right expires with it.

Every grant is to be interpreted most strongly against the grantor.

Concessio versus concedentem latam interpretationem habere debet.

Source: Co. Litt. 183a; Chelsea v. Malden, 4 Mass. 134; Weisman, 52c

Where a grant is ambiguous, the grantee is favored — the grantor who chose the words bears the burden of any uncertainty.

That which is granted or reserved in a certain form is not to be drawn into valuation or compensation.

Quod sub certa forma concessum vel reservatum est, non trahitur ad valorem vel compensationem.

Source: Ex parte Miller, 2 Hill 418, 433; Wharton, III-288

When a grant or reservation is made in a specific form, it must be honored in that form — the grantee cannot substitute a money equivalent or different consideration for what was specifically granted.

Private contracts cannot derogate from public right.

Conventio privatorum non potest publico juri derogare.

Source: Wing. Max. 201; 7 Co. 23; Co. Litt. 166a; Dig. 50, 17, 45, 1; Broom, Max. 695; Jackson 149; Weisman, 24i

This is the master rule of contract law in the constitutional order. No contract — whether between private parties or between a citizen and the government — can bargain away the rights of the People. Government cannot contract away the constitution.

Silence implies consent where the interest of the silent party is at stake.

Qui tacet consentire videtur, ubi tractatur de ejus commodo.

Source: Jenk. Cent. p. 32, case 64; Broom, Max. 138, 787; 9 Mod. 38

When a man's rights are being dealt with and he has knowledge and opportunity to object, his silence operates as acquiescence.

A party who is silent when he ought to speak shall not be permitted to speak afterwards to the prejudice of those who have been induced to act upon such omission to speak.

Source: Wharton, III-26

(English-origin maxim.) A party who remains silent when duty requires him to speak is estopped from later asserting a position that contradicts the reliance others placed on his silence.

He who does not deny, admits.

Qui non negat, fatetur.

Source: Tray. Leg. Max. 503; Dig. 50, 17, 142; Weisman, 26a; Weisman, 87h; Weisman, 99dd

Silence in the face of a properly served allegation operates as an admission — what is not specifically denied is taken as conceded.

No man ought to be a judge in his own cause.

Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa.

Source: 12 Co. 13; Branch, Princ.; Broom, Max. 117; Weisman, 63d

A judge who has a personal interest in the matter before him is disqualified — any judgment rendered under such a conflict is void for want of impartiality.

Justice is neither to be denied nor delayed.

Justitia non est neganda, non differenda.

Source: Jenk. Cent. 76, 93; 2 Inst. 56; Weisman, 68f

Every refusal to hear a case and every unnecessary delay in its resolution is a species of injustice.

No free man shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed; nor shall we go upon him, nor send upon him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

Nullus liber homo capiatur vel imprisonetur, aut disseisiatur, aut utlagetur, aut exuletur, aut aliquo modo destruatur; nec super eum ibimus, nec super eum mittemus, nisi per legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terrae.

Source: Magna Carta, c. 29 (1215); 2 Inst. 45; Broom, Max. 76

The foundational restraint on all government power over the person. Due process of law — not legislative will — is the only lawful mechanism.

The expression of one thing is the exclusion of another.

Expressio unius est exclusio alterius.

Source: Co. Litt. 210a; Broom, Max. 596; Wharton, Max. no. 169; Pearson v. Lord, 6 Mass. 81, 84; Weisman, 43b; Weisman, 95ll; Weisman, 98a

When a law or instrument names particular things, the omission of others is deliberate; what is not included is excluded by the act of specifying.

Judicial notice is a form of evidence.

Source: Mann v. Mann, 172 P.2d 369, 375, 76 Cal. App. 2d 32; Weisman, 39gg

(English-origin maxim.) Courts take judicial notice of facts so universally known or so readily verifiable from authoritative sources that they require no formal proof; such notice operates as evidence in the proceeding.

Punishment is due if the words of an oath be false.

Source: Black's, 840; Weisman, 84c

(English-origin maxim.) Perjury — the willful utterance of false words under oath — merits punishment because the oath is the foundation of judicial truth-finding, and its violation undermines the entire system of justice.