Thinking Citizen Blog — Latin Phrases (Part Two): “Suum Quique,” “In Dubio Pro Reo,” “Pacta Sunt Servanda,” “De Minimis Non Curat Lex”
Thinking Citizen Blog — Saturday is Justice, Freedom, Law, and Values Day
Today’s Topic — Latin Phrases (Part Two): “Suum Quique,” “In Dubio pro reo,” “Pacta Sunt Servanda,” “De Minimis Non Curat Lex”
Last time four Latin phrases related to the law most worth memorizing — “law is always silent in wartime” (silent enim leges inter arma), “the more laws, the less justice” (legibus plus, iustitia minus), “the welfare of the people is the supreme law” (salus populi suprema lex), and “let the punishment fit the crime,” (noxia poena par esto).
Today, four more. “Suum Quique” (to each his own), “In Dubio pro reo,” (innocent until proven guilty), “Pacta Sunt Servanda” (agreements must be kept), and “De Minimis Non Curat Lex” (the law does not concern itself with trifles).
Whether or not you are a lawyer or were trained as a lawyer, what have you learned at home, in school, or in the community generally about the foundation of the law? What are the eight most important quotes in Latin or otherwise most worth passing on to the next generation? Does the order matter? Does law mean anything absent a foundation in ethics?
Is any ethical system solid without the rock of gratitude (aka “piety”)?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
SUUM QUIQUE — to each his own (a pet theory is that the name of the character “Queequeg” in “Moby Dick” is derived from this saying)
1. Plato (427–347 BCE) in the Republic — justice is minding your own business.
2. Justinian (482–565 CE): “”the precepts of law are these: to live honestly, to injure no one, [and] to give each his own (suum cuique tribuere).”
3. To each his own based on ability or need? Who defines “need”?
NB: So do you have a right to the fruit of your labor? Or only sometimes? Only if the “people” decide that you fully earned it? Is property theft (Marx) or the “fence of liberty” (Madison)?
IN DUBIO, PRO REO — Innocent until proven guilty
1. When in doubt, for the accused.
2. How much doubt is enough?
3. In criminal cases, the standard is “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In civil cases the standard is “the preponderance of the evidence.”
NB: OJ Simpson was acquitted in the criminal case, but found guilty in the civil case.
DE MINIMIS NON CURAT LEX — “the law does not concern itself with trifles”
1. But how low a value of imported goods should be exempt from tariffs?
2. How much use of copyrighted material is trivial? how much not?
3. For how much off-the-clock work should an employer be liable?
PACTA SUNT SERVANDA (“agreements must be kept”)
1. “Arguably the oldest principle of international law.”
2. “Without such a rule, no international agreement would be binding or enforceable.”
3. “Pacta sunt servanda is directly referred to in many international agreements governing treaties.”
Pacta sunt servanda — Wikipedia
Pacta sunt servanda | law principle | Britannica
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
For the last four years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
Four special attachments below:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
#4 Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field
(“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to justice, freedom, the law or basic values.
Or the coolest, most important thing you learned in your life related to justice, freedom, the law, or basic values.
Or just some random justice-related fact that blew you away.
This is your chance to make someone’s day. Or to cement in your mind something that you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply about something dear to your heart.
