19. Jus publicum privatorum pactis mutari non potest.
D. 2. 14. 38. Cf. D. 50. 17. 45. 1.
By jus publicum is meant that portion of the law in which the public interests are concerned, and which, therefore, is of absolute authority and not liable to be superseded by conventional law made by the agreement of private persons. Cf. the maxim: Modus et conventio vincunt legem. See § 124.
20. Modus et conventio vincunt legem.
2 Co. Rep. 73.
The common law may in great measure be excluded by conventional law. Agreement is a source of law between the parties to it. See §§ 11. 122.
21. Necessitas non habet legem.
Cf. Bacon’s Maxims of the Law, 5: Necessitas inducit privilegium. A recognition of the jus necessitatis. See § 139.
22. Neminem oportet legibus esse sapientiorem.
Bacon, De Augmentis, Lib. 8. Aph. 58. Cf. Aristotle, Rhetoric, I. 15. 12.