D. 50. 17. 185.
Otherwise: Lex non cogit ad impossibilia. Impossibility is an excuse for the non-performance of an obligation—a rule of limited application.
13. In jure non remota causa sed proxima spectatur.
Bacon’s Maxims of the Law, 1.
A man is not liable for all the consequences of his acts, but only for those which are natural and probable—that is to say, those which he foresaw or ought to have foreseen.
14. In pari causa potior est conditio possidentis.
Cf. D. 50. 17. 128. pr.: In pari causa possessor potior haberi debet. Also D. 20. 1. 10. D. 6. 2. 9. 4.
Possession and ownership—fact and right—enjoyment and title—are presumed by the law to be coincident. Every man may therefore keep what he has got, until and unless some one else can prove that he himself has a better title to it. See § 107.
15. In pari delicto potior est conditio defendentis.
Cf. D. 50. 17. 154: Cum par delictum est duorum, semper oneratur petitor.