Black’s Law Dictionary: When You Need Just the Right Legal Maxim

This year has brought us a thoroughly updated and expanded 11^th edition of Black’s Law Dictionary, the standard in American legal lexicography. In addition to using Black’s to find the definition of any legal term you’re likely to come across, you can use one of the dictionary’s appendices to find the perfect legal maxim for your brief or paper. Think “Caveat emptor” or “Pacta sunt servanda” or any of the other hundreds of legal Latin phrases that still make their way into modern American legal discourse. If you’re not sure where to start with the long list of phrases in an archaic language, use the select index to the maxims included in the appendix. For example, say you need something pithy on criminal law. By using the index, you could locate “Cogitationis poenam nemo meretur” – No one deserves punishment for his thoughts. In additional to legal maxims, you’ll find appendices with the Constitution of the U.S., the members of the Supreme Court, the British Regnal Years, and more.