ENGLISH PROJECT

TOPIC-Absoluta sententia expositore non indiget.

MADE BY- Akansha Gupta

BBA LLB (H).
ENROLLMENT NO. - A11921513008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am very thankful to everyone who supported me, for i have
completed my project effectively and on time.
I am equally thankful to my teacher, she gave me moral support
and guided me in different matters regarding the topic.
She had been very kind and patient while suggesting me the
outlines of the project and correcting my doubts. I thank her for her
overall support.
I would also like to thank my parent for helping me in making of
the project and for giving me ideas on the topics.
Thank you!

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENCITY
This is to certify that Akansha Gupta , student of BBA-LLB(H) of
Amity Law School , Centre II , Noida of Amity University , Uttar
Pradesh , have successfully completed the project on the topic
Absoluta sententia expositore non indiget under the guidance of
our english teacher.
The project is absolutely genuine and do not indulge in any
plagiarism of any kind
(Akansha Gupta).

CONTENTS:
1) INTRODUCTION
2) A STUDY ON LEGAL MAXIM :ABSOLUTA
SENTENTIA EXPOSITORE NON INDIGET

3) USE OF MAXIMS IN LEGAL JUDGEMENT

4) CASE LAW :

INTRODUCTION
DEFINITION AND ORIGIN OF MAXIMS IN :
Maxim can be defined as an established principle or
proposition. A tenet of law universally admitted as being just and
consonant with reasons. Lord Coke said: Maxims are a sure
foundation or ground of art and a conclusion of reason, so sure and
uncontrolled that they ought not to be questioned. Maxims in law are
said to be somewhat like axioms in geometry. They are the principles
and authorities, and part of the general customs or common law of
the land. These are sort of legal capsules, useful in dispensing
justice.
Maxims have been divided, as to their origin, into three classes:
Roman, Roman modified, and indigenous. They are mostly
derived from civil law, either literally or by adaptation, and most of
those which are not found in the Roman sources are the invention of
medieval jurists. The earliest work on maxims appears to have been
that of Bacon (1630) followed by Noy (1641), Wingate (1658), Heath
(Pleading, 1694), Francis (1723), Grounds and Rudiments of Law
and Equity (Anonymous, 1751, of which Francis was the author),
Branch (1753), Logtt (1776, in his Reports). Broom (1845), Trayner
(1872, 1883), Cotteral (1881, 1894), and Whartons Dictionary (1848,
1892), Lawson (1883), Bells Dictionary (Scotch, 1890), Petoubet
(New York, 1880), Barton, Stimson, Morgan, Taylor, Hening,
Halkerston, Jackson (Law Latin), and Hughes.
The tenets of law canonized in maxim are the precepts, ideals
and techniques of law referring a general truth drawn from
experience. In the olden days great majority of questions apropos the
rights, remedies and liabilities to private individuals were determined
with reference to maxims. The lasting importance of maxims is well
expressed by Lord Cameron in an article on Maxims, in Greens
Encyclopedia of the Law of Scotland (Vol. 9, para 1201) where he
says: In legal discussions reference is constantly being made to

certain principles of common sense and justice, which are necessarily

the same in the legal systems of all nations. Many of these
fundamental principles and rules, founded on experience and reason,
have found expression in the legal maxims, most of which are derived
directly or indirectly from the Roman law. Nowhere is the faculty of
clear and terse statement of legal principles more conspicuously
exhibited than in the texts of the civil law. Accordingly, while the legal
systems of modern civilized nations differ greatly in their technical
rules and forms, all of them recognise the value of the simple and
apposite statements of fundamental principles embodied in the
maxims of Roman jurisprudence.
But all the maxims did not have a respectable origin. Lord
Denning in his book The Family Story has described his fascination
for the use of maxims. He was very fond of a particular maxim: FIAT
JUASTITIA RUAT COELUM (Justice should be done though the
heaven falls). But when he investigated its origin, he discarded the
RUAT COELUM part of the maxim. According to Lord Denning, if
justice is done, the heaven should not fall. They should rejoice.
The story as to this maxim as referred by Lord Denning was
told by SENECA (dialogues, III, 18). Piso sentenced a soldier to
death for the murder of Gaius. He ordered a Centurion (Commander)
to execute the sentence. When the soldier was about to be executed,
Gaius came forward himself alive and well. The Centurion reported it
to Piso. He sentenced all three to death. The soldier because he had
already been sentenced, the Centurion for disobeying orders and
Gaius for being the cause of the death of two innocent men. Piso
excused it by plea, FIAT JUASTITIA RUAT COELUM let justice
be done, though the heaven should fall. Here command of sovereign
was equated with justice. But the dictum is not used in this sense. It is
always used by the Courts for furthering the cause of justice.
The principles enunciated in the maxims should be applied with
due care, as there are exceptions to the rule and qualification for
applicability of dictum. Maxims are the condensed good sense of
notions

A STUDY ON LEGAL MAXIM:

ABSOLUTA SENTENTIA EXPOSITORE NON
INDIGET
an absolute judgement needs no expositor. (Plain
words require no explanation).
When the language of the statute is transparently plain, it is
wrong to give it colour according to the temper of time. When the
language implied by the enactment is clear, there is no question of
interpreting the provisions in any manner except by giving them their
plain and obvious meaning. Nebulous concept of the legislative intent
cannot be used to curtail the explicit provisions in a statute.
The subject of legal maxims has depth of an ocean. To
comprehend it within the limit of this paper is like seeing Himalaya in
a flash of lightning. I am reminded of the story of the legendary
Harvard Law Professor Edward Bull Warren. He was so enthusiastic
about his subject that he always went on after the bell at the end of
the class. His students were continually late to their next class, so
they decided to start shuffling their feet to let the Professor know
when to stop. The first time they tried it, Bull roared: Quiet! I still
have a few more pearls to cast!

THE USE OF MAXIMS IN LEGAL JUDGEMENT

The jurisdiction of any Court is circumscribed by the subject matter in
dispute in a suit and the issues raised in that suit for determination. If
the subject matter is within the jurisdiction of the Court, then the Court
is required to determine the issues raised in the suit and is not
expected to go beyond the issues.
In determining such issues, properly raised, Courts, including
Appellate Courts cautiously abstain from deciding more than what the
immediate point submitted for their consideration requires 1
Judgments of our Courts, excluding of course the Supreme Court are
rendered in long and winding fashion because all sorts of
expatiations, adumbrations, criticisms and reference to previous dicta
are embedded therein, making the judgments cumbersome and
lumbering. The maxim is absoluta sententia expositore non indiget.
This means that once the words are plain and are capable of only
one interpretation no explanation of them is required. A clear
statement, or sentence or proposition requires no expositor or
interpreter. Judgments should therefore center on the issues in a
case and not indulge the academic whims of the writer. Let us repeat
that, that system of law is the best, which leaves least in the
discretion of the Judge and that Judge, the best who relies least on
his opinion. When once it is appreciated that the law is not interested
in the personal opinion of the Judge but in his exposition of the law,
the need to avoid elegant and elaborate prose writing and the use of
unnecessary imagery and side comments would become imperative.
The Rule of Law is established, when the Law is, by judicial
declaration, made certain and when absurdities are not accepted
whether at Law or in equity.

CASE LAW :
Bombay High Court
Mahavirprasad Badrida vs M.S. Yagnik on 27 July, 1959
Equivalent citations: (1959) 61 BOMLR 1433
Author: Shah
Bench: Shah, S Desai

Judgement:
(20) where the language of an enactment is plain and clear upon its face and
of itself fairly susceptible of one meaning the task of interpretation can
hardly be said to have arisen. Absoluta sententia expositore non indiget. But
language at best is not a perfect medium of expression and a variety of
siginifications often lives in a word or expression. Any examination of cases
involving construction of statutes must reveal that few words are so plain
that the context or the occasion is without capacity to enlarge or narrow their
extentions , so if the Legislature of a country has been accustomed to use
any word or expression with a more restricted or extended meaning than
might be commonly attributed to it in its oridinary sense the court should not
blindly shut out that consideration but should avail of that assistance. Albeit
limited, in the process of interpretation. Legislative practice is one of the
accepted aids to construction and furnishes extrimisc evidence to which
resort may legtimately be had when the court has to construe a word or
phrase and the task of preferring one meaning to another can really be said
to have arisen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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