Question:easy

The maxim actio personalis moritur cum persona means:

Updated On: Jul 13, 2026
  • Personal action dies with the parties to the cause of action
  • An action is not given to him who has received no damages
  • No one is responsible for inevitable accidents
  • An act done by me against my will, is not my act
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Latin maxims in tort law are usually solved by breaking the phrase into its component words rather than guessing, so it helps to translate this one piece by piece before looking at the options.

  1. Personal action dies with the parties to the cause of action: actio is action, personalis is personal, moritur is dies, cum persona is with the person. Read together this gives exactly a personal action dies with the person, the rule historically used to say that certain tort claims could not be continued by or against a deceased party's estate.
  2. An action is not given to him who has received no damages: none of the words in the maxim relate to damages or harm suffered, this describes an entirely separate legal idea about proof of loss.
  3. No one is responsible for inevitable accidents: this is the sense of a different maxim altogether, actio personalis says nothing about accidents or the standard of care, so it cannot be the translation here.
  4. An act done by me against my will, is not my act: this corresponds to the maxim actus me invito factus non est meus actus, a different Latin phrase built around involuntary acts, not around death of a party.

Word for word translation of the maxim points squarely to the rule about a personal action not surviving the person.

The correct answer is Personal action dies with the parties to the cause of action.

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