Remedy

Remedies are the life of rights.

Remedia sunt vitae jurium.

Source: Campbell v. Holt, 115 U.S. 620, 631; Weisman, 94w

A right that cannot be enforced is a dead letter — the vitality of every right depends on the availability and efficacy of its remedy.

Take away the remedy and you take away the right.

Tolle remedium et tollis jus.

Source: Virginia Coupon Cases, 114 U.S. 270, 303

Any legislative or administrative action that eliminates the means of enforcing a constitutional right effectively destroys the right — the remedy and the right are inseparable.

Extraordinary remedies are never to be resorted to until ordinary ones fail.

Nunquam ad extraordinaria recurrendum est nisi ubi ordinaria deficiunt.

Source: 4 Inst. 84

The law favors regular process and reserves extraordinary writs, injunctions, and special proceedings for cases where the normal channels have proven inadequate.

Not a new but a customary remedy is to be used.

Non novo sed consueto remedio utendum.

Source: 2 Inst. 3

The law favors established and proven remedies over novel inventions — parties should resort to the known forms of action rather than seeking untested procedures.

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

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.

In similar cases, the remedy should be similar.

In consimili casu consimile debet esse remedium.

Source: Hardr. 65; Statute of Westminster II (13 Edw. I, c. 24); Weisman, 94p

Like wrongs demand like remedies — the law applies consistent treatment to comparable injuries, ensuring that justice is not arbitrary.

The despoiled party ought to be restored before all else.

Spoliatus debet ante omnia restitui.

Source: 2 Inst. 714

Before any other question is heard — before defenses, counterclaims, or procedural objections — the party wrongfully deprived of his property must first be restored to possession. Restoration comes before adjudication.