Legal Speak Made Easy

“Nemo plus iuris ad alium transferre potest quam ipse habet”

As intimidating as that old Roman law adage sounds, it has a very simple and common sense meaning: No one can transfer more rights to another than he himself has.

Often referred to as thenemo plus iurisrule, it was formulated by one of Rome’s great jurists, Ulpian, and eighteen hundred years later it is still regularly quoted in our modern courts. To take one example, if you don’t own that house you’re selling me, you can’t transfer ownership to me. With only a few exceptions, that remains our law today.

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