NEMO BIS PUNITUR - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

NEMO BIS PUNITURAuthored

The Law Mind • 808 words

Definition

A Latin maxim meaning "no one is punished twice." The full form of the principle appears as *nemo bis punitur pro eodem delicto* — "no man is punished twice for the same offense." The maxim states a foundational rule of criminal law: once a person has been punished for an offense, the state may not punish them again for that same act. It is a precursor concept to, and direct expression of, the prohibition against double jeopardy.

Common Confusion

NEMO BIS PUNITUR vs. DOUBLE JEOPARDY: The maxim and the doctrine point in the same direction but are not identical. *Nemo bis punitur* is a general moral and legal principle with roots in Roman and canon law; double jeopardy is a specific constitutional and procedural rule with defined triggers (attachment of jeopardy, same offense test, same sovereign). Historical sources use the maxim loosely; modern courts apply the doctrine precisely. Do not treat a citation to the maxim in a historical source as equivalent to a finding that modern double jeopardy doctrine applies.

NEMO BIS PUNITUR vs. AUTREFOIS CONVICT / AUTREFOIS ACQUIT: These are the common law procedural pleas by which *nemo bis punitur* was enforced at trial. The maxim states the principle; the pleas were the mechanism. In historical English sources, you will often find the pleas cited where American sources would invoke the constitutional clause.

Why It Matters in Research

This maxim appears in historical legal sources as a self-contained principle rather than as a term of art requiring statutory or constitutional grounding. Researchers working in pre-modern common law materials will encounter it as a freestanding rule cited by Blackstone and Hawkins without reference to any constitutional text — because the constitutional codification it anticipates came later. In American law, the corresponding doctrine is anchored in the Fifth Amendment's Double Jeopardy Clause; in English law, it developed through common law pleas of *autrefois convict* and *autrefois acquit*. When reading historical sources, do not assume that *nemo bis punitur* and double jeopardy are interchangeable with perfect precision: the maxim is broader in rhetorical scope and has been invoked in civil contexts (particularly to resist duplicative civil penalties following criminal punishment), while the constitutional double jeopardy doctrine has a more technically bounded application.

A second research trap: the maxim is sometimes abbreviated to *nemo bis punitur* in index entries and digests, and sometimes written out in its full form *nemo bis punitur pro eodem delicto*. Cross-check both forms when searching historical sources. Black's 2nd Edition cites Blackstone's Commentaries (4 Bl. Comm. 315) and Hawkins' Pleas of the Crown (2 Hawk. P. C. 377) as the primary authorities — both are available in the Law Mind corpus and should be consulted for the classical common law articulation of this rule.

The maxim also connects to a neighboring principle: *nemo cogitationis poenam patitur* (no one suffers punishment for their thoughts), which appears in the same cluster of Latin maxims in Black's 2nd Edition. Researchers exploring the philosophical foundations of criminal liability will find these maxims cited together in historical treatises.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) presents the maxim in its fuller Latin form — *nemo bis punitur pro eodem delicto* — and cites Blackstone and Hawkins directly. This is consistent with the maxim's classical pedigree: both sources treat it as a settled common law principle rather than a contested rule. Black's does not elaborate on exceptions or limitations, which reflects the treatise tradition of stating maxims at their most general. What the historical dictionary entry does not capture is the technical divergence that later developed between this maxim's broad equitable force and the narrower procedural requirements of double jeopardy doctrine as it matured in constitutional law. Hawkins' Pleas of the Crown, in particular, situates the maxim within the framework of criminal pleading, connecting it to the formal pleas available to a defendant who had already been tried — a procedural context that Black's citation preserves but does not explain.

Jurisdictional Note

In American federal courts, the principle is constitutionally expressed through the Fifth Amendment Double Jeopardy Clause, incorporated against the states. In English law, the maxim survived as a common law rule and was eventually codified. Civil law systems independently recognize a related principle under the phrase *ne bis in idem*, which operates in both domestic and international criminal law contexts including extradition treaties and international tribunal proceedings.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Double Jeopardy
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Criminal Punishment
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Autrefois Convict; Autrefois Acquit

NEMO BIS PUNITURmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

properly rejected this as a rule of evidence. 7 Term R. 601. Nemo bis punitur pro eodem. delicto. No man is punished twice for the same offense. 4 Bl. Comm. 315; 2 Hawk. P. C. 377. Nemo cogitationis penam patitur. No one suffers punishment on account of his thoughts. Tray. Lat. Max. 362. Nemo ocogitur rem suam vendere, etiam justo pretio. No man is compelled to sell his own property, even for a just price. 4 Inst. 275. - Nemo contra factum suum venire potest. No man can contravene or contradict his own deed. 2 Inst. 66. The principle of estoppel by deed. Best, Ev. p. 408, § 370. Nemo dare potest quod non habet. No man can give that which he has not. Fleta, lib. 3,,c..15, § 8 Nemo dat qui non habet. He who hath not cannot give. Jenk. Cent. 250; Broom, Max. 499n ; 6C. B. (N. 8S.) 478. Nemo de domo sua extrahi potest. one can be dragged out of his own house. In other words, every man’s house is his castle. Dig. 50,.17, 108. Nemo debot bis puniri pro uno delicto. No man ought to be punished twice for one offense. 4 Coke, 43a; 11 Coke, 59). No man shall be placed in peril of legal penalties more than once upon the same accusation. Broom, Max. 348. Nemo debet bis vexari [si constet curise quod sit] pro una et eadem causa. No man ought to be twice troubled or harassed [if it appear to the court that it is] for one and the same cause. 5 Coke, 6la. No man can be sued a second time for the same cause of action, if once judgment has been rendered. See Broom, Max. 327, 348. No man can be held to bail a second time at the suit of the same plaintiff for the same cause of action. 1 Chit. Archb. Pr. 476. Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa. No man ought to be a judge in his own -eause. 12 Coke, 1144. A maxim derived :from the civil law. Cod. 3, 5. Called a “fundamental rule of reason and of natural justice.” Burrows, Sett. Cas. 194, 197. Nemo debet immiscere se rei ad se nihil pertinenti. No one should intermeddle with a thing that in no respect concerns him. Jenk. Cent. p. 18, case 32. Nemo debet in communione invitus teneri. No one should be retained ina partnership against his will. Selden.v. Vermilya, No 'NEMO EX 8UO DELICTO 2 Sandf. (N. Y.) 568, 598; United Ins. Co. v. Scott, 1 Johns. (N. Y.) 106, 114. Nemo debet locupletari aliena jactura. No one ought to be enriched by another’s loss. Dig. 6, 1, 48, 65; 2 Kent, Comm. 336; 1 Kames, Eq. 331. Nemo debet locupletari ex alterius incommodo. No one ought to be made rich out of another’s loss. Jenk. Cent. 4; Taylor v. Baldwin, 10 Barb. (N. Y.) 626, 633. Nemo debet rem suam sine facto aut defectu suo amittere. No man ought tu lose his property without his own act.or de fault. Co. Litt. 263a. Nemo duobus utatur officiis. 4 Inst. 100. No one should hold two offices, « e, at the same time. Nemo ejusdem tenementi simul potest esse hzsres et dominus. No one can at the same time be the heir and the owner of the same tenement. See 1 Reeve, Eng. Law, 106. Nemo enim aliquam partem recte intelligere possit antequam totum iterum atque iterum pocrlegerit. No one is able rightly to understand one part before he has again and again read through the whole. Broom, Max. 593. Nemo est heres viventis. No one is the heir of a living person. Co. Litt. 84, 22b. No one can be heir during the life of his ancestor. Broom, Max. 522, 523. No person can be the actual complete heir of another till the ancestor is previously dead. 2 Bl. Comm. 208. Nemo est supra leges. No one is above the law. Lofft, 142. Nemo ex alterius facto pregravari debet. No man ought to be burdened in consequence of another’s act. 2 Kent, Comm. 646. Nemo ex consilio obligatur. No man is-bound in consequence of his advice. Mere advice wil} not create the obligation of a mandate. Story, Bailm. § 155. Nemo ex dolo suo proprio relevetur, aut auxilium capiat. Let no one be relieved or gain an advantage by his own fraud. A civil law maxim. Nemo ex aerneeer rl dolo consequitur actionem. No one maintains an action arising out of his own wrong. Broom, Max. 297. Nemo ex suo delicto meliorem: suam conditionem facere potest. No one: can make his condition better by his own a deed. Dig. 50,17, 104,1 . . seg

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