salus populi suprema lex eston.

1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 221 Judges ought above al, to remember the conclusion of the Romaine twelve Tables; Salus populi suprema lex, and to know that Lawes, except they bee in order to that ende are but things captious, and Oracles not well inspired.

1617 J. Chamberlain Let. 10 May (1939) II. 74 Necessitie hath no law, and yf salus populi be suprema lex, in this case salus regis was included too.

1792 A. Ferguson Princ. Moral & Polit. Sci. II. ii. vi. 411 Salus populi, suprema lex esto, is the fundamental principle of political science.

1793 E. Gibbon Let. 29 Nov. (1956) III. 133 In so new a case the Salus populi must be the first law.

1836 J. F. Davis Chinese I. vi. 251 These are contained in their sacred books, whose principle is literally, salus populi suprema lex.

1845 H. Broom Sel. Legal Maxims i. 1 Salus Populi Suprema Lex... Hence there are many cases in which individals sustain an injury for which the law gives no action.

1910 G. K. Chesterton George Bernard Shaw 89 The real and ancient emotion of the salus populi, almost extinct in our oligarchical chaos.

1963 Times 8 Mar. 13/5 In matters concerning the safety of the state, the definition of which can be safely left to our Courts of Law, salus rei publicae must surely still be suprema lex?

1978 Times 10 May 17/5 I do not wish to pursue the arguments for and against birching..except to express doubts as to whether the vague and potentially dangerous maxim ‘salus populi suprema lex’..is really the best possible guideline to be recommended to a court of law for the determination of a legal issue.