Meaning: Let the buyer beware. Explanation: Buyers bear risks for quality unless statutory protections or warranties apply; modern consumer law often modifies this rule. Example: A purchaser of a used

Meaning: Error of law is not an excuse (traditionally). Explanation: Historically, misunderstanding the law did not excuse liability; modern systems may permit narrow relief or discretionary remedies. Example: A business’s

Meaning: Consent makes the law. Explanation: Agreements and social consent create binding obligations and legitimation. Example: A community agreement to conserve a local green space can form the basis for

Meaning: Of public right. Explanation: Certain things (navigable waters, highways) are for public use and not privately appropriable. Example: A foreshore used by fishermen cannot be lawfully enclosed for private

 Meaning: Of the same kind. Explanation: General terms following specific ones are limited to things of the same class. Example: “Trucks, cars and other vehicles” suggests meaning similar road vehicles,

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