A verbis legis non est recedendum (Latin)

From the words of the law there is no departure

A facto ad jus non datur consequentia (Latin)

The inference from the fact to the law is not allowed

Actus legis nulli facit injuriam (Latin)

The act of the law does injury to no one

Ad quæstionem legis respondent judices, ad quæstionem facti respondent juratores (Latin)

It is the judge’s business to answer to the question of law, the jury’s to answer to the question of fact

Addere legi justitiam decus (Latin)

It is to one’s honor to combine justice with law

Bonæ leges malis ex moribus proceantur - Marcobius (Latin)

Good laws grow out of evil acts

Communis error facit jus (Latin)

Common error makes law

A verbis legis non est recedendum (Latin)

From the words of the law there is no departure

Ubi jus incertum, ibi jus nullum (Latin)

Where the law is uncertain, there is no law

Misera est servitus ubi jus est aut vagum aut incognitum (Latin)

Obedience to the law is a hardship where law is either unsettled or unknown

Conventio privatorum non potest publico juri derogare (Latin)

An agreement between individuals cannot set aside public law

Corruptissima republica plurimæ leges - Tacitus (Latin)

The more corrupt the state, the more the laws

Cui licitus est finis, etiam licent media (Latin)

For whom the end is lawful, the means are also lawful

Dilationes in lege sunt odiosæ (Latin)

Delays in the law are odious

Daliquando leges, nunquam moriuntur (Latin)

The laws sometimes sleep, but never die

Dura lex, sed lex (Latin)

The law is hard, but it is the law

Ex facto jus oritur (Latin)

The law goes into effect after the fact

Ex malis moribus bonæ leges natæ sunt - Coke (Latin)

From bad manners (or morals) good laws have sprung

Excessus in jure reprobatur (Latin)

All excess is condemned by the law

Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse (Latin)

It is but a small matter to be good in the eye of the law

Fatetur facinus qui judicium fugit - Publilius Syrus (Latin)

The one who flees judgement confesses his guilt

Fortior et potentior est dispositio legis quam hominis (Latin)

The disposition of the law is stronger and more potent than that of man

Habet et bellum suas leges (Latin)

Even war has its laws

Honestum non est semper quod licet (Latin)

What is lawful is not always respectable

Ignorantia juris non excusat (Latin)

Ignorance of the law does not excuse

Ignorantia legis neminem excusat (Latin)

Ignorance of the law excuses no one

Ignorantia non excusat legem (Latin)

Ignorance does not excuse the law

Illicitum non sperandum (Latin)

What is unlawful should not be hoped for

Impotentia excusat legem (Latin)

Impotency (Inability) excuses law

Lex non cogit ad impossibilia (Latin)

The law does not compel the performance of the impossible

In omnibus quidem, maxime tamen in jure, æquitas est (Latin)

In all things, but particularly in law, regard is to be given to equity

Inde datæ leges ne fortior omnia posset (Latin)

Laws have been ordained so that the stronger may not have everything their own way

Iniquum est collapsis manum non porrigere: commune hoc jus generis humani est - Seneca the Elder (Latin)

It is no sin to stretch out your hand to the fallen: that is a common law of the human race

Inter arma leges silent - Circero (Latin)

In time of war, the laws are silent

Judicandum est legibus, non exempli

The judgment must be pronounced from law, not from precedent

Judicis est jus dicere non dare (Latin)

It is the judge’s duty to enunciate the law, not to make it

Jus est ars boni et æqui (Latin)

Law is the art of the good and the just

Jus civile neque inflecti gratia, neque perfringi potentia, neque adulterari pecunia debett - Cicero (Latin)

The law ought neither to be warped by favor, nor shattered by power, nor corrupted by money

Jus summum sæpe summa malitia est - Terence (Latin)

Extreme law (or justice) is often extreme wrong

Justitia est obtemperatio scriptis legibus - Cicero (Latin)

Justice is conformity to the written laws

Legem brevem esse oportet quo facilius ab imperitis teneatur - Seneca (Latin)

A law ought to be short, that it may be the more easily understood by the unlearned

Leges ad civium salutem, civitatumque incolumitatem conditæ sunt - Cicero (Latin)

Laws were framed for the welfare of the citizens and the security of states

Leges arma tenent sanctas (Latin)

Arms cause laws to be respected

Leges bonæ ex malis moribus procreantur - Macrobius (Latin)

From bad morals good laws are produced

Leges mori serviunt - Plautus (Latin)

Laws are subservient to custom

Leges neminem in paupertate vivere neque in anxietate mori permittunt - Justinian (Latin)

It is never the intention of the law that anyone shall live in poverty or die in anguish

Leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant (Latin)

Later laws repeal prior contrary laws

Leges sunt inventæ quæ cum omnibus semper una atque eadem voce loquerentur - Cicero (Latin)

Laws are so devised that they may always speak with one and the same voice to all

Legis constructio non facit injuriam (Latin)

The construction of the law does injury to no one

Lex aliquando sequitur æquitatem (Latin)

Law is sometimes according to equity

Lex citius tolerare vult privatum damnum quam publicum malum - Coke (Latin)

The law will sooner tolerate a private loss than a public evil

Lex neminem cogit ad impossibilia (Latin)

The law compels no one to do what is impossible

Lex prospicit non respicit (Latin)

The law is prospective, not retrospective

Libertas est potestas faciendi id quod jure licet - Cicero (Latin)

Liberty consists in the power of doing what the law permits

Licuit semperque licebit parcere personis, dicere de vitiis (Latin)

It has been, and ever will be, lawful to spare the individual and to attack the vice

Magistratum legem esse loquentem, legem autem mutum magistratum - Cicero (Latin)

A judge is a speaking law, law a silent judge

Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia violandum est: aliis rebus pietatem colas - Julius Ceaser (Latin)

If you must break the law, do it only to seize power: in all other cases, observe it

Major hæreditas venit unicuique nostrum a jure et legibus, quam a parentibus - Cicero (Latin)

A greater inheritance comes to each of us from our rights and laws than from our parents

Necessitas dat legem non ipsa accipit - Publilius Syrus (Latin)

Necessity gives law without itself accepting one

Necessitas non habet legem - Aesop (Latin)

Necessity knows no law

Neque opinione sed natura constitutum est jus - Cicero (Latin)

Not in opinion, but in nature, is law founded

Nihil potest rex nisi quod de jure potest (Latin)

The king can do nothing but what the law allows

Nihil quod est inconveniens est licitum (Latin)

Nothing that is inconvenient is lawful

Non est princeps super leges, sed leges supra principem: The prince is not above the laws, but the laws above the prince - Pliny the Younger (Latin)

The prince is not above the laws, but the laws above the prince

Nulla lex satis commoda omnibus est - Livy (Latin)

No law is sufficiently convenient to all

Nullum iniquum in jure præsumendum est - Latin

Nothing unjust is to be presumed in the law

Nunquam scelus scelere vincendum est - Seneca

It is unlawful to overcome crime by crime

Orator improbus leges subvertit

A morally corrupt orator subverts the law

Potius ignoratio juris litigiosa est quam scientia - Cicero (Latin)

The litigious spirit is more often found with ignorance than with knowledge of law

Privatorum convento juri publico non derogat

No bargain between individuals derogates from a law

Privilegium est quasi privata lex (Latin)

Privilege is, as it were, private law

Quædam non jura scripta sed omnibus scriptis certiora sunt - Seneca the Elder (Latin)

Some laws are unwritten, but they are better established than all written ones

Quæstio fit de legibus, non de personis (Latin)

The question must refer to the laws, not to persons

Quam angusta innocentia est, ad legem bonum esse - Seneca (Latin)

What narrow innocence it is for one to be good only according to the law

Quid faciant leges, ubi sola pecunia regnat? - Petronius (Latin)

What power has law where only money rules?

Quid leges sine moribus vanæ proficiunt? - Horace (Latin)

What good are laws when there are no morals?

Quin etiam leges latronum esse dicuntur, quibus pareant, quas observent - Cicero (Latin)

Even thieves are said to have laws that they obey, that they observe

Quod est inconveniens et contra rationem non est permissum in lege

Whatever is inconvenient and contrary to reason is not permitted in law

Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet acrius urit - Ovid

What is lawful is less desirable, what is unlawful is more keenly desired

Quod non vetat lex, hoc vetat fieri pudor - Seneca

Modesty (or shame) forbids what the law does not

Quod vos jus cogit, id voluntate impetret - Terence (Latin)

What the law insists upon, let your adversary obtain from your own free will

Ratio est legis anima (Latin)

Reason is the spirit and soul of the law

Rebus cunctis inest quidam velut orbis - Tacitus (Latin)

In all things there is a kind of law of cycles

Sunt et belli sicut pacis jura- Livy (Latin)

War has its laws as well as peace

Regula ex jure, non jus ex regula, sumitur (Latin)

We draw this rule from the law, and not the law from the practice

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