COMMODUM - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

COMMODUMAuthored

The Law Mind • 672 words

Definition

A Latin term meaning advantage, benefit, or profit derived from a legal transaction, relationship, or situation. In legal usage, commodum appears most often as a component of the maxim *commodum ex injuria sua nemo habere debet* — no one ought to derive benefit or advantage from their own wrong. The term itself is rarely used as a freestanding substantive in modern common law writing; its legal force is almost entirely carried through the maxim and its variants.

Common Confusion

COMMODUM is frequently encountered only in the maxim rather than as an independent term, which can cause researchers to miss it when indexing or searching historical sources. It should not be confused with *commodatum* (a specific type of gratuitous bailment in civil law and Scots law), though both derive from the same Latin root. The orthographic similarity is a persistent trap in historical legal texts, particularly those engaging with Roman or civilian sources.

Why It Matters in Research

The primary research value of this term lies in tracing the maxim *commodum ex injuria sua nemo habere debet* and its near-synonymous variants through the historical corpus. Several formulations appear in the sources under different headings: Burrill records the Latin maxim, an Anglo-French version (*Un ne doit prise avantage de son tort demesne*), and an English paraphrase, all cross-referenced to Jenk. Cent. 161, Finch's Law, and the Year Books. A researcher relying on any single language formulation may miss parallel entries indexed under one of the others.

The principle expressed — that no one profits from their own wrong — surfaces across disparate areas of legal doctrine: forfeiture, estoppel, insurance (the insured cannot benefit from deliberately caused loss), contract rescission, and tortious interference. Historical sources treat it as a maxim of general equity rather than a rule confined to any single field, so corpus searches should not be limited to a single subject classification.

Anderson's entry on *commodum* as extracted here does not appear to address the term directly; the text provided concerns commitment and bail, suggesting either a misfiling or a cross-reference fragment. Researchers using Anderson's should verify the relevant entry independently and not assume that dictionary's coverage of this term is substantive.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the most complete entry among the Law Mind shelf sources. Burrill correctly identifies the term as Latin for advantage, benefit, or profit, and gives the maxim in three parallel formulations — Latin, Anglo-French, and English paraphrase — with supporting citations to Jenkinson's *Centuries of Precedents*, Finch's *Law*, and the Year Books (*2 And. 38, 40*). This multi-lingual approach reflects standard practice in 19th-century American legal lexicography for maxims with deep common law and civilian pedigrees.

Anderson's entry, as reproduced in the available source material, does not engage with *commodum* on the merits. The text fragment provided concerns magistrates' commitment powers and bears no apparent connection to the term. This divergence is worth flagging: Anderson's may lack a substantive entry on *commodum*, or the entry may appear elsewhere in that dictionary under the maxim itself rather than the Latin noun.

Neither source addresses the civil law meaning of *commodum* in the context of usufruct or risk-allocation doctrine (*commodum eius esse debet, cuius periculum est* — the benefit belongs to the one who bears the risk), a related maxim that appears in continental and Scots legal materials. Researchers working in comparative law or equity contexts should consult civilian sources separately.

Jurisdictional Note

The maxim associated with *commodum* is recognized across common law jurisdictions as a principle of general equity, but its doctrinal weight varies. English chancery courts applied it broadly; American courts have typically absorbed the principle into specific doctrines (unclean hands, forfeiture, estoppel) rather than citing the Latin maxim directly. Civil law jurisdictions engage with the term and its cognate maxims more explicitly through Roman law sources.

COMMODUMmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

court; as, a justice of the peace, some aldermen, mayors, and commissioners of bail. If the offense is not bailable, or the party cannot find bail, he is to be committed to the county gaol by the mittimus of the justice, or warrant under his hand and seal, containing the cause of his commitment; there to abide till delivered by due course of law.1 Commitment for crime being only for safe-keeping, when bail will answer the purpose it is generally taken. The warrant is in the name of the State; is under the hand and seal of the magistrate; shows his authority, and the time and place of issue; describes the prisoner by name; specifies the place of confinement, and is directed to the keeper thereof; states that the party has been charged on oath with a particular offense. When the offense is bailable the direction is "to keep in safe custody for want of sureties, or until discharged by due course of law;" when not bailable, "until discharged by due course of law;" and when for further examination of the charge, "for further hearing." See BAIL, 1 (2); CAPERE, Capias, Cepi. L. Convenience, benefit, advantage. Nullus commodum capere potest de injuria sua propria. No one advantage shall take of his own wrong-doing-as a cause of action or of defense. Applies where a partner retires from a firm, and fails to give notice of the change; where a person inadvertently or fraudulently mingles grain of his own with higher-priced grain belonging to another; where a tenant for years or for life cuts down trees and then claims them; where a grantor attempts to dispute the validity of the title he has conveyed; where one party binds another to a condition impossible to be performed, or does something to prevent or hinder performance. The maxim applies only to the extent of undoing an advantage gained against the right of another, not to taking away a right previously possessed.4 Thus, also, an admission, whether of law or of fact, which has been acted upon by another, is conclusive against the person who made it. Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus. He who enjoys the benefit, ought also to bear the burden. He who enjoys the advantage of a right takes the accompanying disadvantage-a privilege is subject to its condition. Illustrated in the rights and liabilities arising out of the relation of principal and agent, grantor and grantee, lessor and lessee, attorney and client, husband and wife, innkeeper and guest, a carrier and the public-the principle pervades the law in all its branches. On this principle rests the law of alluvion: the 1 L. commodus, convenience. 2 [Portland Bank v. Apthorp, 12 Mass. 256 (1815), Parker, C. J. 3 Commonwealth v. Lancaster Savings Bank, 123 Mass. 495 (1878); Connecticut Ins. Co. v. Commonwealth, 133 id. 163 (1882); Gleason v. McKay, 134 id. 424-25 (1883), cases; Hamilton Company v. Massachu- * See 4 Bl. Com. 296-300; 4 Cranch, 129; 17 F. R. 156; setts, 6 Wall. 640 (1867); 24 How. Pr. 492. 9 Ν. Η. 185; 6 Humph. 391. • Reynell v. Lewis, 15 M. & W.*529 (1846), Pollock, C. В. Lloyd v. Hart, 2 Pa. 478 (1846), Gibson, C. J. 1 Bl. Com. 306; 3 id. 427. • Shelford, Lunacy, 137, 140, 441. See Broom, Max. *279; State v. Costin, 89 N. C. 516 (1883). See 1 Greenl. Ev. §§ 207-9. See Cooper v. Louanstein, 37 N. J. E. 305 (1883); Mundorff v. Wickersham, 63 Pa. 89 (1869), cases.

COMMODUMmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

Lat. Advantage, benefit or profit. Commodum ex injuria sua nemo habere debet. No man ought to have advantage [to derive benefit] from his own wrong. Jenk. Cent. 161. No man shall take a benefit of his own wrong. Finch's Law, b. 1, c. 3, num. 62. Un ne doit prise avantage de son tort demesne. 2 And. 38, 40. See Nemo ex suo delicto, &c.

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