“Speak briefly and precisely, and what you say will penetrate to the heart.” —Executor Hideo
Definition/Summary:
Maxim
- Short, pithy statement expressing a general truth or rule of conduct
- A brief statement that contains a little piece of wisdom or a general rule of behavior
- Maxims are sometimes written by a single author, for example in the form of philosophical quotations
- When a maxim has no specific author, it becomes a kind of proverb – something that just emerges from the culture and survives because people use it, not because any specific person wrote it in a book
Example
- “Rome wasn’t built in a day”
- “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse”
Legal Terminology
- A broad statement of principle, the truth and reasonableness of which are self-evident. A rule of Equity, the system of justice that complements the Common Law
- Maxims were originally quoted in Latin, and many of the Latin phrases continue to be familiar to lawyers in the early 2000s
- The maxims were not written down in an organized code or enacted by legislatures, but they have been handed down through generations of judges. Because of this the wording of a maxim may vary from case to case