As you gear up for CLAT 2025, understanding key legal maxims is important. These are the golden keys to unlocking the complex world of law. In this guide, we’ll focus on important law legal maxims, vital for your success in the CLAT exam and other law entrance exams. These maxims form the backbone of legal arguments and judicial reasoning.
Remember, these CLAT legal maxims are more than mere words. Knowing them is not just about memorization but understanding the deep principles they represent. As you explore into the world of law legal maxims, you will find that they express complex legal ideas in a few words, making them indispensable for anyone aspiring to excel in law.
Upcoming CLAT Exams:
CLAT legal maxims will enhance your analytical skills, making you adept at interpreting legal scenarios. If you are appearing for CLAT 2025 exam and are in search of important CLAT legal maxims, then this blog post is for you. In this blog post we are providing you a comprehensive list of law legal maxims that are essential for learning CLAT legal maxims.
What is Law Legal Maxim?
Law Legal maxims are concise, universal principles that have been established over centuries of legal practice. They serve as foundational guidelines or general truths in the field of law. In essence, these law legal maxims offer a brief picture of broader legal concepts, making them easier to understand and apply. For CLAT preparing students, these legal maxims are especially important. They not only provide a quick reference to complex legal ideas but also aid in developing a deeper understanding of legal reasoning and judicial decision-making.
List of Important CLAT Legal Maxims and Phrases for 2025
Here, we are providing you with a comprehensive list of important CLAT legal maxims and phrases for your CLAT 2024 exam. These law legal maxims and phrases will be helpful in the CLAT legal reasoning section for those appearing for the CLAT 2024 exam.
1. Accomplice – Person associated with a crime
Explanation – It means one who voluntarily and intentionally participates with another in a crime by encouraging or assisting in the commission of the crime or by failing to prevent it though under a duty to do so.
2. Accused – Person charged with the offence
3. Actus reus – Guilty act
4. Actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea – An act does not make a person guilty unless there is a guilty mind
Explanation – This maxim is better understood in conjunction with actus reus and mens rea. If the physical act (actus reus) is not accompanied by the mental state (mens rea), it would not constitute a crime in itself. In other words, if a person’s wrongful act is not a result of an intention to commit a crime, that act would not be considered criminal.
5. Actori incumbit Onus probandi – The burden of proof is on the complainant
Explanation – A plaintiff to a legitimate activity should demonstrate their body of evidence to win the claim against the respondent. The plaintiff is obliged to submit to the court all the verifications and proof he/she has against the litigant to legitimize their cases. In different words, the inquirer bears the weight of confirmation, who needs to demonstrate the parts of their case.
6. Actio personalis moritur cum persona – The personal right of action dies with a person
Explanation – The cases cannot be passed to the other person, the credibility of the case came to an end with the death of the person. In 1496 the first case came to the light, where a woman died before paying the charges due on her for defaming someone and since then this maxim applied.
7. Actionable per se – No proof of damage is required for the action to be punishable
8. Ad hoc – For the specific purpose
Explanation – It refers to something that was formed or used for a specific and immediate purpose without prior planning.
9. Amicus curiae – Friend of the court
Explanation – It means one who assists the court by furnishing information or advice regarding question of law or fact. He is not a party to a lawsuit and thus differs from an intervenor, who has a direct interest in the outcome of the lawsuit and is therefore permitted to participate as a party to the suit.
10. Audi alteram partem – Both the parties must be heard
Explanation – It means “hear the other side”. No man should be unheard, both the parties have an opportunity of being heard. Audi alteram partem is from a latin phrase “audiatur et altera pars”.
11. Bonafide – Good faith
12. Causa proxima et non remota spectatur – The immediate cause is to be considered and not the remote cause.
Explanation – It means whenever the cause of any act or circumstance is needed to be understood, the immediate cause needs to be looked at and not the remote cause.
13. Caveat emptor – Let the buyer beware
14. Child in conflict with law – It refers to a child who has not completed 18 years of age on the date of commision of offence and is alleged or found to have committed an offence.
15. Consensus ad idem – Meeting Of Minds For The Same Thing In The Same Sense
Explanation – It requires that both parties to a contract have a common intention to comply and accept with the terms outlined in the contract. It provides that parties are said to consent to something ‘when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense.
16. Convicted – Person held guilty by the court for a crime
17. Damnum sine injuria – Damage without injury
Explanation – It means a loss or damage in terms of money, property, or any physical loss occured without the infringement of any legal right. It refers to an injury suffered by the plaintiff without violation of any legal right of a person.
18. De minimum non curat lex – The law does not take into consideration triffle acts
Explanation – In a lawsuit, the court applies this doctrine to avoid resolving trivial matters that are not worthy of judicial scrutiny.
19. Doli incapax – Incapable of doing wrong
Explanation – It is a principle that deals with the protection of children from criminal liability. It is presumed in law that a child below 7 years of age (in the case of India) is incapable of knowing the consequences of his actions and hence is granted complete immunity from criminal liability.
20. Ex turpi causa non oritur actio – No action can arise from an illegal act
Explanation – There are some cases where the plaintiff himself involved in the illegal act therefore that person will not be able to bring suit against the other person and the plaintiff will not get any remedy. This could be used as a defense which the defendant can use to exempt his liability from an act as the plaintiff is also involved in the illegal act.
21. Ex Post Facto – After the fact
22. Fiduciary – A relationship based on trust or good faith
Explanation – It is a relationship in which one party places special trust, confidence on another person who has a fiduciary duty to act for the benefit of the party.
23. Ignoratia facit excusat – Ignorance of fact is excusable
Explanation – This principle provides a defence for individuals who may have caused harm due to a lack of knowledge or information.
24. Ignorantia juris non excusat – Ignorance of law is not excusable
Explanation – This principle places the responsibility on individuals to know and follow the law, regardless of whether they were aware of the law or not. In other words, a person cannot avoid liability by claiming that they did not know the law.
25. Injunction – Stay order
Explanation – An injunction is a prohibitive writ issued by a court at the suit of a party complainant.
26. Injuria sine damnum – Injury without damages
Explanation – It is a Latin term in which ‘Injuria’ means ‘injury’, ‘sine’ means ‘without’ and ‘damnum’ means ‘damage or loss’. It refers that the plaintiff suffered no physical injury or damage as a result of legal injury, loss, or damage. The plaintiff only has to prove that he has suffered some legal damage and that the action he has brought is actionable per se.
27. Innuendo – Hidden form of defamation
Explanation – It means an indirect hint. It is derived from the Latin word “innuere,” which means “to nod forward.” Innuendo is used in lawsuits for defamation (libel and slander).
28. Ispo facto – By the very fact
Explanation – You use ipso facto when you have a fact or an action, and you want to show that it’s a direct consequence of another fact or action.
29. In rem – Against the whole world
Explanation – It refers to a lawsuit or other legal action directed toward people at large or against the whole world.
30. Intestate – Dying without leaving a will
31. Judicial review – The process of review of executive actions by the court of law
32. Jus Naturale – Natural Justice
Explanation – It is a legal principle that originated from the belief in divine truths that are universally applicable. This principle posits that certain moral and ethical truths are inherent to human nature and that they form the basis of the law.
33. Locus standi – Right to take the stand
Explanation – The doctrine signifies appearance before the court or before anybody on a given question. According to the doctrine of locus standi, a person who is stranger to a disputed matter cannot be allowed to interfere in the judicial proceedings. Only a person whose legal right has been violated, that is the aggrieved person against whom a decision has been pronounced, is allowed to bring an action in the court.
34. Malice – Ill Will
Explanation – It refers to a party’s intention to do injury to another party.
35. Malafide – Bad faith
36. Mutatis Mutandis – All necessary changes having been made
Explanation – It is used within contracts to incorporate terms from one agreement into a different and separate agreement. For example, a lease renewal with similar terms to a previous agreement, save for changes to the tenants, may incorporate terms ‘mutatis mutandis’.
37. Nemo judex in Causa sua – No person shall be judge in his own case
Explanation – It is popularly known as the rule against bias. It is the minimal requirement of the natural justice that the authority giving decision must be composed of impartial persons acting fairly, without prejudice and bias.
- Novation – Substitution of a old contract by a new contract
Explanation – To novate is to replace an old obligation with a new one. In contract law, a novation replaces one of the parties in a two-party agreement with a third party, with the agreement of all three parties.
39. Obiter Dictum – That which is said in passing
Explanation – It refers to a passage in a judicial opinion which is not necessary for the decision of the case before the court. Such statements lack the force of precedent but may nevertheless be significant.
40. Pari passu – Equal footing
Explanation – It describes situations where two or more assets, securities, creditors, or obligations are equally managed without preference.
41. Pecuniary – According to money value
Explanation – ‘Pecuniary’ means money. Pecuniary jurisdiction is the power of the courts to determine matters on the basis of the monetary extent.
42. Pendente lite – During litigation
43. Per Incuriam – By mistake
44. Plea of Alibi – To be present at some other place
Explanation – This plea claims that the defendant was not present at the scene of the accused offence at the time it happened.
45. Plea Bargaining –
Explanation – Plea bargaining is a process in which a defendant in a criminal case agrees to plead guilty to a lesser charge or to a reduced sentence in exchange for some concession from the prosecutor or the court.
46. Prima Facie – On the very face of it
Explanation – It means “sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved or rebutted.” It may also be used as an adverb meaning “on first appearance but subject to further evidence or information.”
47. Public prosecutor – Counsel for state
48. Qui Facit Per Alium Facit Per Se – One who does the act through another is deemed in law to do it himself
Explanation – It is a legal maxim of the law of agency which is often stated in discussing the liability of an employer for the act of an employee in terms of vicarious liability. It can also be called as concept of vicarious liability.
49. Quid Pro Quo – Something for something
Explanation – The key to a quid pro quo business agreement is a consideration, which may take the form of a good, service, money, or, financial instrument. Such considerations are attached to a contract in which something is provided and something of equal value is hence returned in exchange.
50. Ratio Decidendi – The reason for the decision
Explanation – It is a legal phrase which refers to the principles used by a court to compose the rationale of a particular judgment.
51. Res Ipsa Loquitur – Thing speaks for itself
Explanation – It means that the circumstances surrounding the case make it obvious that negligence occurred. When a plaintiff pursues an injury claim to recover compensation, the plaintiff must show the defendant breached a legal duty by acting more carelessly than a reasonable person would have. The plaintiff must also show the defendant’s negligence was the direct cause of harm.
52. Sic utere tuo ut rem publikum non laedas – To enjoy your property in such a way as to not injure the rights of the public
Explanation – Public nuisance is described as an act that seeks to annoy the general public or disregards everything that is necessary for the common benefit. The public nuisance is based on the principle “sic utere tuo ut rem publikum non laedas.” Only when an omission is illegal will it be considered a public nuisance. The accused cannot claim that the nuisance he created was to safeguard his own interests or to prevent or mitigate any harm to his property or crops.
53. Volenti Non Fit Injuria – No injury is done to a willing person
Explanation – In case a person gives his consent of doing of an act which causes him injury, then later, he cannot claim any damages from such action of the person because he voluntarily consented for such act. The consent of the plaintiff acts as a defence and this defence is called volenti non fit injuria which means to a willing person no injury happens.
54. Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium – When there is a right there is a remedy
Explanation – If any wrong is committed then the law provides a remedy for that. Any person will not suffer a wrong without a remedy, it means that once it is proved that the right was breached then equity will provide a suitable remedy. It also underlines the fact that no wrong should be allowed to go without any compensation if it can be redressed by a court of law.
55. Void ab initio – Void from the beginning.
Explanation – This means that legally, a contract was void as soon as it was created. The parties of the contract are not legally related based on what was written in the agreement because the agreement in question was never valid.
Overview
As you conclude your preparation for CLAT 2024, remember the importance of these legal maxims. Mastering these law legal maxims is more than rote learning. It is about understanding the core of legal thought and application. Each maxim opens a door to a fundamental legal concept, essential for your success in the CLAT 2024 exam and your legal career.
By integrating these CLAT legal maxims into your study regime, you will be enable to tackle complex legal reasoning questions in CLAT 2024 examination with ease.
For more guidance in understanding CLAT legal maxims, you can refer the following videos –
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