Ratification & Confirmation

To confirm is to make firm that which was before infirm.

Confirmare est id quod prius infirmum fuit firmare.

Source: Co. Litt. 295; Jackson 125; Weisman, 20a

Confirmation gives strength to what was previously weak or defective — but it cannot create a right where none existed.

No one can confirm a right before the right accrues to him.

Confirmare nemo potest priusquam jus ei acciderit.

Source: 10 Co. 48; Jackson 126; Weisman, 20b

A man cannot ratify or confirm what he has no authority over — premature confirmation is a nullity.

He who does not disapprove when he can, approves.

Qui non reprobat, approbat.

Source: 3 Inst. 27; Weisman, 21q

Silence in the face of a known wrong, where one has the power and duty to object, operates as ratification — the People's silence on constitutional violations confirms them.

Confirmation is null where the preceding gift is invalid.

Confirmatio est nulla ubi donum praecedens est invalidum.

Source: Co. Litt. 295; Moore 764; Jackson 127; Weisman, 20h

A void act cannot be made valid by subsequent ratification — if the original grant was beyond the power of the grantor, no amount of confirmation can cure it.

Confirmation supplies all defects, even though what was done may not have been valid from the beginning.

Confirmatio omnes supplet defectus, licet id quod actum est ab initio non valuit.

Source: Co. Litt. 295b; Jackson 128; Weisman, 20i

This maxim applies only to voidable acts (defective but not void) — true nullities remain beyond the reach of confirmation (see 6.7.4).

There are two instruments for confirming or impugning all things: reason and authority.

Duo sunt instrumenta ad omnes res confirmandas aut impugnandas — ratio et auctoritas.

Source: 8 Co. 16; Weisman, 20e

Every legal proposition must withstand the test of both reason and authority — neither alone is sufficient, and what fails both is law in name only.