A legal maxim is an established principle or proposition of law, and a species of aphorism and general maxim. The word is considered to be a variant of the Latin maxima, though no exactly analogous word to maxim is found in surviving Roman law texts. However, the treatises of many of the Roman jurists on regular definitiones and sententiae iuris are to some degree collections of maxims. Most of the Latin maxims originate from the Medieval era in European states that used Latin as their legal language.

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