brocard
Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- noun An elementary principle or maximum; a short, proverbial rule, in law, ethics, or metaphysics.
Examples
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My father replied by that famous brocard with which he silences all unacceptable queries turning in the slightest degree upon the failings of our neighbours, — ‘If we mend our own faults, Alan, we shall all of us have enough to do, without sitting in judgement upon other folks.’
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Thus, in the brocard, “Purchase breaks hire,” what by the nature of the subject is a real right — namely the hire — is taken to hold as a merely personal right; and, conversely, as in the case referred to above, what is in itself merely a personal right is held to be valid as a real right.
Note
The word 'brocard' may come from the title of a work by Burkhard, Bishop of Worms, called Brocard.
