Etymology

Noun

1. A legal principle usually expressed in Latin, traditionally used to concisely express a wider legal concept or rule.
   • 1860, The Journal of Jurisprudence, Edinburgh, vol. IV, p. 414:

     The other question was as to the proper legal meaning of the brocard, “heres heredis mei est heres meus.”

   • 1853, Samuel Owen, The New York Legal Observer, vol. XI, pp. 73-4:

     Blackstone, with a like tenderness of conscience, endeavors to withdraw a single case, a sale of provisions, from the old brocard caveat emptor, and tells us that in such a contract there is a warranty that the provisions are wholesome.