Meaning: Monetary compensation is not always apt for moral injuries. Explanation: Courts sometimes order non-monetary remedies (apologies, injunctions) where damages cannot properly redress moral harm. Example: A court may order

 Meaning: In equal fault, the defendant is in the better position. Explanation: Courts will not assist a claimant who is equally at fault in illegality; both parties culpable may be

Meaning: A specific law overrides a general one. Explanation: Specific statutory provisions prevail over broader statutes on the same topic. Example: A maritime law governing collisions takes precedence over general

Meaning: Let justice be done though the heavens fall. Explanation: Justice should be pursued even if consequences are severe; an aspirational principle. Example: A judge refuses to bend a legal

Meaning: A word is known by its associates (interpretation by context). Explanation: Ambiguous language can be clarified by surrounding terms. Example: A statute listing “cars, lorries and other vehicles” would

Meaning: As you possess, so you may keep (often used in territorial law). Explanation: Preserves existing possession or borders at legal transitions. Example: Newly independent states often keep pre-existing administrative

Meaning: A matter judged is accepted as truth. Explanation: Final judicial decisions are binding between parties and prevent relitigation of same issues. Example: A final ruling on property title bars

Meaning: What pleases the sovereign has the force of law (historical). Explanation: Historically, sovereign will could create law; now constrained by constitutions. Example: Royal proclamations once had legal force in

Meaning: It cannot be done (performance impossible). Explanation: Where performance is utterly impossible, the law recognises impossibility. Example: A vendor cannot deliver a unique item destroyed in transit; performance excused.

Meaning: All things are presumed to have been done properly and solemnly. Explanation: Official acts are presumed valid until proven otherwise. Example: A duly attested public record is presumed genuine

Meaning: The law does not compel the impossible. Explanation: Legal obligations cannot be enforced if performance is truly impossible. Example: A seller excused where a flood destroys the only factory

Meaning: The law does not concern itself with trifles. Explanation: Courts will ignore trivial matters that do not warrant legal process. Example: A tiny scratch on a neighbour’s fence causing

Meaning: Use your property so as not to injure others. Explanation: Property rights are limited by duty not to harm neighbours or the public. Example: A factory cannot emit noxious

Meaning: Against the one who offers (contract interpretation). Explanation: Ambiguities in contract wording are interpreted against the drafter who provided them. Example: A vague exclusion clause in an insurance policy

Meaning: Equity supports those who timely assert their rights. Explanation: Delayed claimants may be denied equitable relief if they unreasonably postponed. Example: A claimant who waits years to assert an

Meaning: To one who volunteers, no injury is done. Explanation: Consent to a known risk limits liability for resulting harm. Example: A spectator injured at a sports event they knowingly

Meaning: The welfare of the people is the supreme law. Explanation: Public interest can justify measures that protect collective safety, subject to balance with rights. Example: Authorities may impose temporary