Top 35 Legal Maxims for CLAT & other Law Entrance Exams!

21/10/19, 14:40

Top 35 Legal Maxims for CLAT &

other Law Entrance Exams!
Neeraj Mishra

Legal Maxims are an integral part of the Legal Knowledge section and questions are
abundantly asked from this topic in the CLAT exam. The Legal Aptitude section of the CLAT
exam consists of questions from two segments. These are Legal Reasoning and Legal
Knowledge.

The total number of legal aptitude questions in the CLAT exam is 50 and each question
carries one mark. There is no fixed breakup of the type of questions asked in legal aptitude.
Sometimes all the questions are legal reasoning based like in CLAT 2019 paper. However, in
2018, there were 35 questions from legal reasoning and 15 from Legal knowledge. So, to
ace this section you need to be well versed with both types of questions.

To help you all boost your exam preparation, we are going to share some important Legal
Maxims commonly asked in the CLAT exam. For your better understanding, we have also
shared the meanings of these legal maxims asked in the Common Law Aptitude Test.

First, you should understand - what a Legal Maxim is!

A legal maxim can be defined as an established set or principle.
Many of the legal maxims developed are in Latin. This is mainly because most of the
legal maxims were developed in the medieval era in European Countries that used Latin
as the language of law and for the courts.

Important Legal Maxims Commonly asked in CLAT Exam!

We have shared some important questions from Legal Maxims below, which are commonly
asked in the CLAT exam. Make sure that you also go through their solution properly to
understand these terms.

1. Actionable Per se

1. For the case or end at hand

2. The meeting of minds
3. In good faith
4. The very act is punishable, no proof of damage is required

Answer: (d) actions that do not require the allegation or proof of additional facts to constitute
a cause of action. Such a tort is actionable simply because it happened

2. Assentio Mentium

1. The meeting of minds

2. In good faith

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3. An argument directed at the person

4. Injury without damage

Answer: (a) Latin definition for a meeting of minds. The moment when a contract is
complete.

3. Pacta sund servanada

1. Treaties are legally binding

2. Treaties are legally binding only to the contracting parties
3. Goods without an owner
4. With an intention of making a will

Answer: (a) A Latin word for agreements are binding. It is a basic principle of civil law,
international law, and canon law

4. Bona Vacantia

1. Goods without an owner

2. Let the seller beware
3. To the extreme contrary
4. The law does not note trifling matters

Answer: (a) Bona Vacatia is a legal concept associated with the property that has no owner.
It exists in various jurisdictions, but with origins mostly in English law.

5. Persona non-grata

1. By the fact itself

2. Person non-wanted
3. State recognition of law
4. Principle of equity

Answer: (b) refers to a foreign person whose entry or remaining in a country is prohibited by
that country’s government

6. Alibi

1. A friend of the court

2. From elsewhere
3. Equity follows the law
4. At another place

Answer: (d) A claim or a piece of evidence when an act, typically a criminal one, is alleged to
have taken place

7. Ipso facto

1. By the very fact itself

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2. Legitimate
3. From the very beginning
4. In good faith

Answer: (a) Ipso Facto is a Latin Phrase, which means that a specific phenomenon is a
direct consequence of the action in question, instead of any previous action.

8. Actio personalis moritur cum persona

1. An action is not given to one who is not injured

2. A personal right of action dies with the person
3. The burden of proof lies with the plaintiff
4. The act of law does no wrong

Answer: (b) A maxim stating that actions of tort or contract are destroyed by the death of the
injured or the injuring party.

9. Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea

1. The laws are adapted to those cases which occur more frequently
2. For a perpetual memorial for the matter
3. The act does not make one guilty unless there is a guilty intent
4. Alienation is preferred by law rather than accumulation

Answer: (c) an act does not make one guilty without a guilty mind. This Latin phrase is often
given as the pinnacle of the English common law criminal justice system and is usually in the
context of mens Rea.

10. Jus cogens

1. The peremptory norm of general international law

2. The recognition of certain practices like law
3. Implied jurisdiction of the ICJ
4. The treaties are legally binding

Answer: (a) refers to certain fundamental principles of international law, from which no
derogation is ever permitted

11. Pari passu

1. An amount
2. In proportion
3. In the opinion of the court
4. On an equal footing

Answer: (d) Is a Latin phrase that describes situations where two or more assets, securities,
creditor or obligation are equally managed without situations

12. Non- sequitur

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1. An inconsistent statement
2. Guilty state of mind
3. No one can be a judge in his own cause
4. In the matter of

Answer: (a) a conclusion or a statement that does not logically follow from the previous
argument or statement

13. Ubberime Fide

1. Reason for deciding the judgment

2. In utmost good faith
3. As much as deserved
4. The principle that courts abide by

Answer: (b) utmost good faith- it is a legal doctrine that governs most insurance contracts

14. Vox populi

1. Voice of the people

2. The previous position
3. To take into custody of law
4. The things speak for itself

Answer: (a) this phrase is used in English to mean voice of the people.

15. Corpus Delicti

1. Show me the body

2. Where is the body
3. The body of crime
4. The guilty person in a crime

Answer: (c) material substance (such as the body of the victim of a murder) upon which a
crime has been committed.

Corpus delicti literally means "body of the crime".

In its original sense, the body in question refers not to a corpse but to the body of
essential facts that, taken together, prove that a crime has been committed.

16. De Minimis Lex non Curat

1. Incapable of a crime
2. Crime committed by a minor
3. The law does not notice trifling matters
4. By reason of a subsequent act

Answer: (c) a common law principle whereby the judges will not sit in the judgment of
extremely minor transgressions of the law.

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17. Ex Post Facto

1. By reason of a subsequent act

2. Of the same kind
3. Amongst other things
4. By that very fact

Answer: is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequence of actions that were
committed or relationships that existed, before the enactment of law.

18. Volenti non fit injuria

1. To a willing person, injury is not done

2. One must be compensated for the injury caused to him
3. During litigation, nothing should be changed
4. Let the principle answer

Answer: (a) Is a common law doctrine that states that if someone willingly places
themselves in a position in which harm might result, knowing that some degree of harm
might result, they are able to bring a claim against the other party in tort.

19. Ubi Jus Ibi remedium

1. Where there is a right, there is a remedy

2. The meeting of minds
3. Subsequent laws repeal prior conflicting one
4. A judge cannot be a witness in his own cause

Answer: (a) for every wrong, there is a remedy. Further, when one’s right is denied, the law
affords a remedy of an action for its enforcement.

20. Qui facit per alium facit per se

1. He who acts through another acts by himself

2. Something for something
3. At the outset, on the threshold
4. Against the whole world

Answer: (a) It is a fundamental legal maxim of the law of agency. It is a maxim often stated
in discussing the liability of an employer for the act of the employee

21. Jus naturale

1. Living law
2. Natural law
3. Positive law
4. Natural justice

Answer: (b) natural law is a philosophy that ascertains that certain rights are inherent by

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human nature, traditionally by god and something that can be understood universally through
human reason.

22. Mala In se

1. We command
2. Where is the body
3. Guilty state of mind
4. Bad in themselves

Answer: is a Latin phrase meaning wrong or evil. The phrase is used to conduct assessed
as sinful or inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct.

23. Per Curium

1. In the opinion of the court

2. An inconsistent statement
3. to persuade someone to do the act
4. A judge in his own cause

Answer: (a) denoting decision of the appellate court in unanimous agreement written
anonymously.

24. Obiter Dicta

1. As much as deserved
2. Under judicial consideration
3. Reason for being a part of the judgment
4. Things said in the passing of a judgment

Answer: (c) a judge’s expression of opinion uttered in court or in a written judgment, but not
essential to the decision and therefore not legally binding as a precedent.

25. Ration decidendi

1. Without which nothing

2. Indefinitely
3. Under judicial consideration
4. None of the above

Answer: (d) the reason or the rule of law on which a judicial decision is made

26. Res Judicata

1. Under judicial consideration

2. By this very fact
3. A case which has already been decided
4. Things that are said in the passing of a judgment

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Answer: (c) a matter that has been adjudicated by a competent court and therefore may not
pursued further by the same parties.

27. Quantum Merit

1. As much as deserved
2. The things speak for itself
3. Act done in return for something else
4. Act done for merit

Answer: (a) a reasonable sum of money to be paid for the services rendered or work done
when the amount is due as not stipulated in a legally enforceable contract.

28. Actori Incumbit Onus Probandi

1. The burden of proof lies on the plaintiff

2. The burden of proof lies on the defendant
3. Equity follows justice
4. With the intention of making a will

Answer: (a) is a Latin phrase derived which means that the burden of proof lies on the
plaintiff.

29. In Limine

1. In the meanwhile
2. On the threshold
3. By the very fact
4. None of the above

Answer: (b) A motion in limine is a motion that is tabled by one of the parties at the very
beginning of the legal procedures and seeks to pull the rug out from under the feet of the
other party. This motion is decided by the judge in both civil and criminal proceedings.

30. Inter Vivos

1. Bring me the body

2. by reason of a subsequent act
3. between living persons
4. between two minors

Answer: (c) Is a legal term referring to a transfer or a gift made during one’s lifetime, under
the subject of trust.

31. Respondent Superior

1. Let the principle answer

2. Let the doer be responsible
3. Let the doer beware

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4. The bailee is responsible for the property

Answer: (a) is a doctrine of law that states that a party is responsible for the vicarious acts of
its agents. This common law doctrine was established in the seventeenth century.

32. Quo Warranto

1. By whose authority
2. On the face of it
3. Bring me the body
4. Command the authority

Answer: (a) a writ or a legal action requiring a person to show by what warrant an office or a
franchise is held, claimed, or exercised.

33. Injuria Sine Damnum

1. Damage without injury

2. Injury without damage
3. Let the buyer beware
4. One is responsible for their actions

Answer: (b) the meaning of the above maxim is the infringement of an absolute private right
without any actual loss or damage. This was first established in the Gloucester grammar
school case.

34. Caveat emptor

1. Let the buyer beware

2. Let the seller beware
3. Let the respondent beware
4. Let the principal beware

Answer: (a) it is the principle that states that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the
quality and the sustainability of the goods before a purchase is made.

35. Ignoria Juris non Excusat

1. Ignorance of fact is not an excuse

2. Ignorance of a law is not an excuse
3. A personal right of action is not available to the person
4. By whose authority

Answer: (b) Is a legal principle holding that a person who is unaware of a law may not
escape the liability for violating the law merely because one was unaware of its content.

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Practice Previous Year Paper (2019, 2018, 2017) online here

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Thanks

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