Dictionary of Popular Quotations.
[Anon.] Dictionary of Select and Popular Quotations : American Law
This book of quotations in foreign languages, which went through more than six editions beginning in the early nineteenth century, seems indispensable for a lawyer, writer, or serious reader. In what must have been painstaking work, the compilers collected well-known words, proverbs, and phrases from literature and legal practice, mostly in Latin and French (although the work includes Greek, Spanish, and Italian quotations as well), and translated them, placed them in proper context, and cited their source.
The result is a collection of searchable, quotable wisdom, a good deal of it relating to legal matters. In general though, this is just a fascinating book to page through; finding gems such as Terence's Auribus teneo lupum: "I hold a wolf by the ears," and Ovid's Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno: "A rare bird on the earth, and very like a black swan."
As the title page promises, the book is heavily laden with legal maxims and terminology, mainly in Latin. The terms are not only translated but explained. For example, the meaning of the maxim Necessitas non habet legum ("Necessity has no law") is "Any man may justify, for instance, the pulling down the house of another, if it be done to prevent the spreading of a dangerous fire."
Bibliography
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