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Latin survives in law long after it died everywhere else. Some of it is pretension. Much of it is precision: a phrase that took Roman jurists centuries to refine says in two words what English needs a paragraph to explain. Here are fifteen phrases a student will meet repeatedly, grouped by where they turn up.

In Every Subject

Ratio decidendi means the reason for the decision: the legal principle on which a judgment rests, and the part that binds later courts. Everything else a judge says is obiter dictum, a thing said by the way, which may persuade but does not bind. Finding the ratio of Donoghue v Stevenson is the first skill of the common lawyer.

Stare decisis, to stand by things decided, is the doctrine of precedent itself. Article 111 of the Constitution of Bangladesh gives it constitutional force by making the Supreme Court’s declarations of law binding on all courts below.

Prima facie means on first appearance. A prima facie case is one strong enough to require an answer. Bona fide, in good faith, and its opposite mala fide describe the honesty of a party’s conduct, and appear in everything from contract to judicial review.

In Public Law

Ultra vires, beyond the powers, is the foundation of judicial review. An act outside the authority granted by law is void. When the High Court Division struck down the Contempt of Courts Act 2013 or the mandatory death penalty in the Shukur Ali case, it declared them ultra vires the Constitution.

Locus standi, a place to stand, is the right to bring a case. Bangladesh’s rule was transformed by Dr Mohiuddin Farooque v Bangladesh, which gave standing to anyone taking up a public cause. Audi alteram partem, hear the other side, is the rule of natural justice that no one should be condemned unheard. Its companion, nemo judex in causa sua, no one should be a judge in their own cause, is the rule against bias.

Habeas corpus, literally you shall have the body, is the ancient writ commanding a custodian to produce a detained person before the court and justify the detention. Article 102(2)(b)(i) of the Constitution preserves it in Bangladesh.

In Criminal Law

Actus reus, the guilty act, and mens rea, the guilty mind, are the two elements of most crimes. The phrase behind them is actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea: an act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty. Nullum crimen sine lege, no crime without law, forbids retrospective criminal legislation and is guaranteed by Article 35(1) of the Constitution.

In Contract and Tort

Consensus ad idem, agreement on the same thing, is the meeting of minds that every contract requires. Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, was once the rule of sales law and is now heavily qualified by consumer protection. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself, allows a court to infer negligence from an accident that would not normally happen without it, as when a barrel of flour falls from a warehouse onto a passer-by, the facts of Byrne v Boadle in 1863. Volenti non fit injuria, no injury is done to one who consents, is the defence that a claimant who voluntarily accepted a risk cannot complain of it.

In Procedure

Sub judice, under judgment, describes a matter before the courts, and comment on it may be contempt. Ex parte, from one side, describes an application made without notice to the other party, as with an emergency injunction. Inter alia, among other things, is the lawyer’s way of saying that a list is not complete.

A Note on Pronunciation

English lawyers pronounce Latin as if it were English, so that ratio rhymes with patio and prima facie ends with a sound like fishy. Classicists wince. Do not worry about it; the point is to be understood by other lawyers, and they have been mispronouncing these words for centuries.

Why It Is Worth Learning

Legal Latin is not a code to keep outsiders out, though it can feel that way. It is a shared vocabulary that lets a lawyer in Dhaka read a judgment from Delhi, London or Ottawa and know instantly what is meant. Learn these fifteen, and the reports will open up. Learn a few more, and you can start to enjoy the judges who use them badly.

Sources

1. Constitution of Bangladesh, Articles 35, 102 and 111, Bangladesh Laws: http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-367.html
2. Byrne v Boadle (1863) 2 H & C 722, summary, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byrne_v_Boadle
3. Oxford Reference, A Dictionary of Law (Latin maxims): https://www.oxfordreference.com/