Maxims, axioms & idioms · a browsable collection

Legal maxims, political axioms, and the idioms that carry them into everyday argument — each with a plain-English gloss and where it comes from. We state what a maxim means and where it's from; we do not tell you it is right. Open any maxim to see the case law that cites or applies it — curated landmark cases plus a live search of the public record. The legal maxims cross-reference the same categories as our case law.

Legal maxims Political axioms Idioms & mottos All

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely political · English

Concentrated, unchecked power reliably degrades those who hold it — the case for checks and balances.

Provenance: Lord Acton, letter to Bishop Creighton, 1887.

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Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem political · Latin

“I prefer dangerous liberty to peaceful servitude”

Freedom with risk beats safe subjection.

Provenance: Quoted by Thomas Jefferson (1787); attrib. Count Palatine.

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Salus populi suprema lex esto political · Latin

“Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law”