Non sis arsholeus nec mercatum cum arsholibus facias

This article comes to you from the Jolly Contrarian’s legal maxim generation service.

“Don’t be a penis”, in Latin.

A handy rule when drafting a contract, negotiating one, reading one, going on tour, treating people you meet in your travels, and in life generally.

Be a good egg, and everything usually works out for the best.

There is a school of thought (though it may have but one student) that the central inquiry in any English court can be boiled down to the following simple question: “Who, in the sequence of events with which the court is concerned, was being the biggest dick?”

Note, though: little old ladies are prone to be awarded a handicap in the equity stakes.

Can I just extend the hand of gratitude to my secret Latin advisors, one of which pointed out that it was not non mentula esse, but nolli mentula esse; and the second (and, frankly, better) one corrected the first’s spelling to noli mentula esse. Nil carborundum, etc.

See also

• Good faith: Not a George Michael album, but hard to argue against all the same. But don’t let that stop a diligent lawyer trying.
• Commercially reasonable manner: A legal way of saying noli mentula esse. Described usefully in Crowther v Arbuthnot Latham & Co Ltd and Barclays v Unicredit

• Crowther v Arbuthnot Latham & Co Ltd
• Barclays v Unicredit

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