''Ultra posse nemo obligatur'' is a

Latin legal A number of Latin terms are used in law, legal terminology and legal maxims. This is a partial list of these terms, which are wholly or substantially drawn from Latin. __TOC__ Common law Civil law Ecclesiastical law See als ...

term, meaning, "No one is obliged beyond what he is able to do." ''Ultra posse nemo obligatur'' has its origin in the

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

. The expression can be found in

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

's '' Digesto''. A common variant of the phrase ''ultra posse nemo obligatur'' is ''ad impossibilia nemo tenetur''.Thinking of Impossibility in Following Legal Norms
Cracow: Copernicus Press, 2013, as quoted by openedition.org/

Centre pour l'Édition Électronique Ouverte The Centre pour l'Édition Électronique Ouverte (Cléo; ), based in Marseille, France, is overseen by Aix-Marseille University, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, and University of ...

Guide to Latin in International Law

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

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