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Jus Ex Injuria Non Oritur
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Latin: a legal right or entitlement cannot arise from an unlawful act or omission.
Often summarized as simply ex injuria.
Certain facts when they spring from crime or other illegal or unlawful acts or omissions, no matter how public or prominent, cannot form the basis of law or legal rights.
Often stated as the logical extension of commodom ex injuria sua nemo habere debet as well as crimen omnia ex se nata vitiat.
For example, if a person seeking to break and enter your home in the middle of the night, fell into a deep construction hole, he could be estopped or precluded from obtaining damages because of ex injuria.
The maxim is of great import in international law where it is used to suggest that any state unlawfully obtaining land such as through non-defensive war or other such aggressive action, cannot assert any legal rights to that land unlawfully obtained.
Jus ex injuria non oritur is issue from Roman law and, thus a part of civil law where it has not been displaced by statute. It is also an accepted principle in the common law again, where it has not been displaced by statute or judicial distinction.
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