Neeessitas excusat aut extenuat delictum in capitalibus, quod non operatur idem in civilibus. Necessity excuses or extenuates a delinquency in capital cases, which has not the same operation In civil cases. Bac. Max. Neeessitas facit licitum quod alias non est licitum. 10 Coke, 61. Necessity makes that lawful which otherwise is not lawful. Neeessitas inducit privilegium quoad jura privata. Bac. Max. 25. Necessity gives a privilege with reference to private rights . The necessity involved in this maxim Is of three kinds, viz.: (1) Necessity of self- preservation ; (2) of obedience; and (3) necessity resulting from the act of God, or of a stranger. Noy, Max. 32. Neeessitas non babet legem. Necessity has no law. Plowd. 18a. “Necessity shall be a good excuse in our law, and in every other law.” Id. Neeessitas publica major est quam privata. Public necessity is greater than private. “Death,” it has been observed, “is the last and furthest point of particular necessity, and the law imposes it upon every subject that he prefer the urgent service of his king and country before the safety of his life.” Nov, Max. 34; Broom, Max. 18. Neeessitas quod cogit, defendit. Necessity defends or justifies what it compels. 1 Ilale, P. C. 54. Applied to the acts of a sheriff, or ministerial officer , in the execution of bis office. Broom, Max. 14. Neeessitas snb lege non continetur, quia quod alias non est licitum neeessitas facit licitum. 2 Inst. 326. Necessity is not restrained by law : since what otherwise is not lawful necessity makes lawful. Neeessitas vincit legem. Necessity overrules the law. Ilob. 144; Cooley, Const. Lim. (4th Ed.) 747. Neeessitas vincit legem; legum vin- cula irridet. Ilob. 144. Necessity overcomes law; it derides the fetters of laws.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
