summum ius, summa iniuria

supreme justice, supreme injustice

Notes

From Cicero (De officiis, I, 10, 33). An acritical application of law, without understanding and respect of laws's purposes and without considering the overall circumstances, is often a means of supreme injustice. A similar sentence appears in Terence (Heautontimorumenos, IV, 5): Ius summum saepe summa est malitia ("supreme justice is often out of supreme malice (or wickedness)").