Maxim

" " A proposition to be of all men confessed and granted without proof, argument, or discourse... A conclusion of reason." So called quia maxima ejus dignitas et certissima <vuctoritas, et quod maxime omnibus probetur,"^ because its value is the highest and its authority the most reliable, and because it is accepted by all persons as the very highest. The authority of the maxims which are part of the common law rests entirely upon general reception; and the only method of proving that this or that maxim is a rule of the common law is by showing that it has always been the custom to observe it. These maxims are known, and their validity determined, by the judges of the courts. ^ The principles and axioms of law, which are general propositions flowing from abstracted reason, and not accommodated to times or men, are wisely deposited in the breasts of the judges to be applied to such facts as come properly ascertained before them.^ See Law, Common. "When a principle has been so long practiced and so universally acknowledged as to become a maxim, it is obligatory as part of the law."" See Equity, p.

409. 1 L. maturus, completed as to period; ripe. ' Condict V. King, 13 N. J. E. 380 (1861). 3 United States v. Union Eaciflc E. Co., 91 U. S. 86 (1875), Davis, J. * Leigh V. Knickerbocker Life Ins. Co., 26 La. An. 438 <1874). s Wheeless v. Wi Uiams,'62 Miss. 309 (1884).

8L. maxi Tna (senfentia),.t'b.& greatest sentiment; an opinion of the greatest weight o^ authority. ' Coke, Litt. 67 o, 11 a.

81B1. Com. 68. » 3 Bl. Com. 379.

See IB West. Jur. 337; Broom, and The Latin maxims in this book will be found translated and explained under the word of most importance in each maxim, with cross-references to and from corresponding English words.