Communis Error Facit Jus
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A common error makes law
What was at first illegal, being repeated many times, is presumed to have acquired the force of usage; and then it would be wrong to depart from it.
Hilliard, Real Prop. 268; 1 Ld. Raym. 42; 6 Clark & F. 172; 3 Maule & S. 396; 4 N. H. 458; 2 Mass. 357.
The converse of this maxim is communis error nan facit jus, a common error does not make law.
Coke, 4th Inst. 242; 3 Term R. 725; 6 Term R. 564.