Words / P / Law

pacta sunt servanda

phrase/ˌpæktə sʊnt sɜːˈvændə/

C2CEFR level
93/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

The principle that agreements must be kept and are binding on the parties who make them.

Under the maxim pacta sunt servanda, the state was obliged to honour the treaty.

Similar: agreements must be kept

Topic: Legal Latin in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Legal Latin