Rex Debet Esse Sub Lege, Quia Lex Facit Regem Definition: The king should be subject to the law for the law makes the king. Related Terms: Divine Right of Kings Relying on Henri Bracton, Broom's has the entire maxim as:"Rex non debet esse sub homine, sed sub Deo et sub lege, quia lex facit regem."The translation:"The king is under no man, yet he is under God and the law, for the law makes the king."Broom continues:"... [T]he king is not above the law, for he cannot in person assume to decide any case, civil or criminal, but must do so by his judges; the law being the golden met-wand and measures to try the causes of the subjects, and which protected his majesty in safety and peace - the king being thuis in truth sub Deo et lege."This most-welcomed maxim displaced the previously held tenet of the common law so eloquently stated by King James I:"As it is atheism and blasphemy in a creature to dispute what the Diety may do, so it is presumption and sedition in a subject to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power."1REFERENCES:Broom, Herbert, A Selection of Legal Maxims Classified and Illustrated, 10th Ed., (London: Sweet & Maxwell Limited, 1939), pages 17-18.Duhaime.org., Legal Definition of Divine Right of KingsNote 1: Blackstone's Commentaries, Book 1, Page 238. Categories & Topics: Constitutional, Human Rights and Administrative Law Dictionary Dictionary of Latin Law Terms Find you are constantly looking up definitions? Try our search provider (works in most modern browsers) If you find an error or omission in Duhaime's Legal Dictionary, or if you have legal term suggestion, we'd love to hear from you!