Simple latin question!

[daifly]

Hi,

About eight years ago I went to magistrates court for speeding when I could have accepted the fixed penalty notice. In court, I made a long statement why I believed that the speed gun wasn't right and that I wasn't speeding, but finished by saying that rather than plead not guilty and incur a higher fine if I was wrong (with higher court costs), I would plead guilty (I was young and thought I knew better....!).

In the end, the magistrates came back out and said that they would ignore my statement and accept my guilty plea and gave me the fixed penalty. The clerk said that I had done something in latin by pleading guilty to avoid a higher sentence even though I believed I was innocent and so I should just accept it and go away.

The question is, can anyone tell me what legal latin thing I did - I really should have written it down....! Thanks for any ideas, it's been bugging me ever since.

[Barmaid]

Don't know the latin, but I think what you have done is given an "equivocal plea". Ie "I plead guilty but am not really".

[factor-fiction]

mea culpa?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa

[paraffin]

Hi daifly:

The nearest I can come up with, and this is a bit of a mouthful, is this:

"Nullus commodum capere potest ex sua injuria propria"

Which translates to: "No one can derive an advantage from his own wrong".

Ring any bells?

[daifly]

Hi all,

Thanks, but no, none of those.

It wasn't quite a Lacuna, but along those lines.

Wondering if I dreamt it!