NECESSITAS

Lat. Necessity; a force, power, or influence which compels one to act against his will. Calvin. Necessitas culpabilis. Culpable necessity; unfortunate necessity; necessity which, while it excuses the act done under its compulsion, does not leave the doer entirely free from blame. The necessity which compels a man to kill another in self-defense is thus distinguished from that which requires the killing of a felon. See 4 Bl. Comm. 187. Trinoda necessitas. In Saxon law. The threefold necessity or burden; a term used to denote the three things from contributing to the performance of which no lands were exempted, viz., the repair of bridges, the building of castles, and military service against an enemy. 1 Bl. Comm. 263, 357. Necessitas est lex temporis et loci. Necessity is the law of time and of place, 1 Hale, P. C. 54. Necessitas excusat aut extenuat delictum in capitalibus, quod non operatur idem in civilibus. Necessity excuses or extenuates a delinquency in capital cases, which has not the same operation in civil cases. Bac. Max. Necessitas facit licitum quod alias non est licitum. 10 Coke, 61. Necessity makes that lawful which otherwise is not lawful. Necessitas inducit privilegium quoad jura privata. Bac. Max. 25. Necessity gives a privilege with reference to private rights. The necessity involved in this maxim is of three kinds, viz. (1) Necessity of self-preservation; (2) of obedience; and (3) necessity resulting from the act of God, or of a stranger. Necessitas non habet legem. Necessity has no law. Plowd. 18a. Necessity shall be a good excuse in our law” and in every other law.” Id. Necessitas publica major est quam privata. Public necessity is greater than private. “Death it has been observed, is the last and furthest point of particular necessity and the law imposes it upon every subject that he prefer the urgent service of his king and country before the safety of his life.” Noy Max. 34; Broom Max. 18. Necessitas quod cogit defendit. Necessity defends or justifies what it compels. 1 Hale P. C. 54. Applied to the acts of a sheriff or ministerial officer in the execution of his office. Broom Max. 14. Necessitas sub lege non continetur quia quod alias non est licitum necessitas f acit licitum. 2 Inst. 326. Necessity is not restrained by law; since what otherwise is not lawful necessity makes lawful. Necessitas vincit legem. Necessity overrules the law. Hob. 144; Cooley Const. Lim. (4th Ed.) 747. Necessitas vincit legem; legum vincula irridet. Hob. 144. Necessity overcomes law; it derides the fetters of laws.