A collection of Latin maxims & rules, in law and equity: selected from the most eminent authors, on the civil, canon, feudal, English and Scots law, with an English translation, and an appendix of reference to the authorities from which the maxims are selected

About this book

Peter Halkerston’s work is a systematic compilation of legal maxims drawn from the most eminent authorities across civil, canon, feudal, English and Scots law. The opening pages set out his purpose: to furnish lawyers with a memorized “pillars” of law, offering every maxim he could locate that proved useful, together with his own English translations. Halkerston acknowledges the labour involved in rendering the Latin, modestly claiming his rendering is “pretty correct” though not perfect. The book proceeds to define the nature of a rule in law, then presents a long series of paired Latin statements and their translations, each illustrating a principle ranging from procedural doctrines to equitable concepts.

The voice is that of an early‑19th‑century legal scholar, earnest and didactic, employing a formal, almost scholastic style that mirrors the language of contemporary treatises. Readers with an interest in historical jurisprudence, law students, historians of English and Scots law, or anyone fascinated by the Latin foundations of legal reasoning, will find the text rewarding, while modern practitioners may appreciate it as a window into the doctrinal vocabulary that shaped the common law and equity of Halkerston’s era.

Opening lines

Maxims are general principles. General principles afford the most beneficial subjects of reflection: hence it is obvious, that the memory cannot be too well stored with Maxims. With regard to Law, Maxims are the pillars upon which the system is erected. When the memory is stored with them, the Lawyer can have no difficulty in his practice, to fill up the outline. …

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