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No one is entirely sure why lawyers today are using Latin. The modern legal systems in the Western world are heavily influenced by the old Roman legal system, hence the remnants of certain legal phrases and maxims scattered around. Its continued usage can be intercepted as holding onto tradition, to quote legal references more effectively, or to merely sound more sophisticated.

The expression ‘Jacta alea est’ has been used judicially in Re Castle New Homes [1979] 1 WLR 1075 at 1089 and in Re Pantmaenog Timber Co. Ltd [2001] 1 WLR 730 at 739.

The origin of this phrase can be traced to Julius Caesar, who said these words when he crossed the river Rubicon in Northern Italy on the 10th January, 49 BC, leading his army to begin the long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates.

This phrase remains in use today in Italy to mean events have passed a point of no return and that something inevitably will happen.