Legal Maxims and the Ius commune
 
 
 

Quod omnes tangit debet ab omnibus approbari. (VI 5.12.29)

 

Justinian's Code 5.59.5.2

"Necesse est omnes suam auctoritatem praestare, ut, quod omnes similiter tangit, ab omnibus comprobetur"

 

Necessitas legem non habet
 
 
 

Pseudo-Isidore (Hinschius 700-701: JK †878, Felix IV)

"Nisi pro summa necessitate contingat, quoniam necessitas legem non habet." (Anselm of Lucca, 7.119, Gregory, cardinal of Crisogono, Polycarpus, 3.16.3, Gratian, De con. D.1 c.11) and six other minor Transalpine collections; Not in Burchard of Worms or Ivo of Chartres.


Gratian formulated the maxim in a dictum of the first recension of his Concordia discordantium canonum (ca. 1130-1140) (C.1 q.1 dictum post capitulum 39):
"Quia enim necessitas non habet legem, set ipsa sibi facit legem."
 

Bernard of Pavia found almost the same concept (ca. 1190) in Bede's Commentary on Mark and placed it among his "Regulae iuris" 1Comp.  5.37.12(X 5.41.4):

"Quod non est licitum lege, necessitas facit licitum."


Huguccio, C.1 q.1 d.p.c.39, s.v. necessitas non habet legem: "Idest in necessitate positus non subest legi, non dicitur legis esse transgressor, idest reus transgressionis, licet aliter faciat quam precipiat lex, ut de con. di.i.   Sicut non alii"  [Lons-le-Saunier, Archives departementales du Jura, 16, fol. 126r]

Bernardus Parmensis (ca. 1250), Ordinary Gloss to X 5.41.4, s.v. necessitas:  "unde tempore necessitatis omnia sunt communia."
 

Rei publicae interest ne crimina remaneant impunita
 
 
 

Inauditum (4 February, 1199)
 

Quia vero graviter peccant et qui loquitur mendacium et qui subticet veritatem, et publice interest, quod maleficia non remaneant impunita, magnificentiam tuam rogamus attentius per apostolica scripta mandantes . . .
 

Innocent III, Pope. Die Register Innocenz' III. 1: 1. Pontifikatsjahr, 1198/1199, Texte. Ed. Othmar Hageneder and Anton Haidacher. Publikationen des Historischen Instituts beim Österreichischen Kulturinstitut in Rom. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1964. No. 546 (549), pp. 790. Po. 591
 


Alanus Anglicus 5.12.5 Inauditum hactenus speciem falsitatis. Vercelli, Bibl. Cap. 89, fol. 120r-120v. Gloss of Alanus to "et publice interest quod maleficia non remaneant impunita" fol. 120v: "Infra de incid. in can. Vt fame <Alan. K 5.23.2= 3 Comp. 5.21.8 (X 5.39.35)>, ff. ad leg. Aquil. Item uult [Ita uulneratus recte] § penult. <Dig. 9.2.51(52).4> ff. [C. recte] de [ade male]penis, Superioris [Si operis recte], <Cod. 9.47.14> ff. de fideius. Si a reo § Idem quod uult [uolgo recte] <Dig. 46.1.70(71).5>

Lex Aquilia

Dig. 9.2.51(52).4: "cogitet longe absurdius constitui neutrum lege Aquilia teneri aut alterum potius, cum neque impunita maleficia esse oporteat nec facile constitui possit, uter potius lege teneatur, multa autem iure civili contra rationem disputandi pro utilitate communi recepta esse innumerabilibus rebus probari potest."
 
 

Vt famae (10 December, 1203)
 

Ad primum igitur respondemus, quod cum prelati excessus corrigere debeant subditorum et publice utilitatis interest, ne crimina remaneant impunita, et per impunitatis audaciam fiant . . .
 

Innocent III, Pope. Die Register Innocenz' III. 6: 6. Pontifikatsjahr, 1203/1204, Texte und Indices. Ed. Othmar Hageneder, John C. Moore, and Andrea Sommerlechner with Christoph Egger and Herwig Weigl. Publikationen des Historischen Instituts beim Österreichischen Kulturinstitut in Rom. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1995. No. 181 (183), pp. 301-302. Po. 2038.
 

Innocent III: "Quia vero summa necessitas exigit et communis requirit utilitas"  (Because the greatest necessitas and the common good demand and require it).

Innocent III, Pope. Die Register Innocenz' III. 2: 2. Pontifikatsjahr, ed. Othmar Hageneder, Werner Maleczek, and Alfred A. Strnad.. Publikationen des Historischen Instituts beim Österreichischen Kulturinstitut in Rom. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1979.  No.  258 (270), pp.  496.

Innocent III's Consilium to the Crusaders (1203)