What does brocard mean?
A brocard is a short, authoritative maxim that expresses a general principle of law. The word is used almost exclusively in legal and scholarly contexts, where such distillations — often handed down in Latin from Roman and medieval canon law — serve as compact statements of doctrine. Famous examples include "pacta sunt servanda" (agreements must be kept) and "ubi jus ibi remedium" (where there is a right, there is a remedy). A brocard is valued for its brevity and mnemonic force, though modern jurists sometimes caution that these pithy formulas can oversimplify complex questions if applied without nuance. The term derives from the name of Burchard, an early medieval bishop whose collection of canonical rules gave its name to this tradition of condensed legal wisdom. For readers of legal history or jurisprudence, "brocard" is the precise term for the aphoristic building blocks of legal reasoning.
nounA concise, authoritative maxim or rule of law, especially one expressing a general legal principle in brief form. Brocards are traditionally cited in legal scholarship and jurisprudence as distilled statements of doctrine.
- A short maxim stating a general principle of law, especially one of traditional Latin legal sayings used in jurisprudence.
"The jurist invoked the classic brocard 'pacta sunt servanda' to underscore the binding force of agreements."
"Medieval canonists preserved the brocards that still anchor civil-law teaching today."
"He dismissed the clause as a mere brocard — memorable, but too vague to settle the dispute."
The plural is regular; it typically refers to collections or categories of legal maxims rather than individual sayings.
"The textbook devotes a chapter to the brocards inherited from Roman law."
Some of the most powerful rules in law fit on a fortune cookie: brocards like 'pacta sunt servanda' — agreements must be kept — have steered legal thought for centuries.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brocard
"Brocard" comes from the medieval Latin "brocardicum," a term for a canonical or legal maxim. The name traces to Burchard (Latinized as Brocardus), the eleventh-century Bishop of Worms, whose influential collection of ecclesiastical law, the Decretum, made his name synonymous with authoritative rules. English adopted the word through legal scholarship, where it continues to denote terse traditional maxims of law, particularly those surviving from Roman and canon-law practice.
Related word forms
How brocard is actually used
"Brocard" belongs chiefly to formal legal and academic register; it is rare in everyday conversation. It most often appears in discussions of Roman law, canon law, and civil-law traditions, where Latin maxims are cited by name.
Easily confused with brocard
'Brouhaha' means an uproar or commotion, while 'brocard' is a terse legal maxim; the words merely resemble each other in spelling and sound.