Color of Office

When anything is commanded, everything by which it can be accomplished is also commanded.

Quando aliquid mandatur, mandatur et omne per quod pervenitur ad illud.

Source: 5 Co. 116; Weisman, 11g

A grant of authority includes the means necessary to exercise it — but no more. The grant must exist before the means can be implied.

An equal has no power over an equal.

Par in parem non habet imperium.

Source: Jenk. Cent. 174; Broom, Max. 111; Weisman, 11k

One citizen has no inherent authority over another. Government authority exists only by delegation from the People as a whole, not from any individual over another.

Extortion is a crime when, under color of office, one takes what is not due, or more than is due, or before the time when it is due.

Extortio est crimen quando quis colore officii extorquet quod non est debitum, vel supra debitum, vel ante tempus quod est debitum.

Source: 10 Coke, 102; Weisman, 26q

A public officer who uses his position to exact anything beyond what is lawfully owed commits the specific crime of extortion — color of office magnifies, not excuses, the wrong.