Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.

Decree

1. Traditionally, a judicial decision in a court of equity, admiralty, divorce, or probate - similar to a judgment of a court of law <the judge's decree in favor of the will's beneficiary. 2. Any court order, but esp. one in a matrimonial case <divorce decree>. See JUDGMENT; ORDER (2); DECISION.

Decreet

n. [fr. Latin decretum] Scots law. A court's final judgment; a decree.

Macedonian Decree

See SENATUS CONSULTUM MACEDONIAUM.

bill to carry a decree into execution.

A bill brought when a decree could not be en- forced without further court order due to the parties' neglect or for some other reason.

bill to suspend a decree.

A bill brought to set aside a decree.

consent decree

court decree that all parties agree to. - Also termed consent order.

declaratory decree

See declaratory judgment under JUDGMENT.

decree absolute

ripened decree nisi; a court's decree that has become unconditional because the time specified in the decree nisi has passed. - Also termed order absolute; rule absolute.

decree nisi

a court s decree that will become absolute unless the adversely affected party shows the court, within a specified time, why it should be set aside. - Also termed nisi decree; order nisi; rule nisi. See NISI.

decree of distribution

n instrument by which heirs receive the property of a deceased person.

decree of insolvency

probate-court decree declaring an estate's insolvency.

decree of nullity

decree declaring a marriage to be void ab initio. See NULLITY OF MARRIAGE.

decree pro confesso

Equity practice. A decree entered in favor of the plaintiff as a result of the defendant's failure to timely respond to the allegations in the plaintiff's bill. "A decree pro confesso in equity is similar to a default judgment in an action at law. If a defendant in an equity suit fails to answer the plaintiffs petition within the prescribed time period, the bill will be taken pro confessors, and a decree entered in favor of the plaintiff However, whereas a default judgment in an action at law effects an admission of pleaded facts and conclusions of law ... a decree pro confesso in an equity action admits only the material and well pleaded facts in the petition and does not admit the legal claims upon which the plaintiff seeks relief." 27A Am. Jur. 2d Equity § 249, at 733-34 (1996).

decreet absolvitor

n. Scots law. A judgment for a defendant, either by a dismissal of a claim or by an acquittal.

decreet arbitral

n. Scots law. 1. An arbitration award. 2. A form for an arbitration award. - Also termed decree arbitral.

decreet cognitionis causa

n. Scots law. A judgment in a suit involving a plaintiff creditor suing a debtor's heir to attach the heir's lands.

decreet condemnatory

n. Scots law. A judgment for the plaintiff.

decreet of valuation of teinds

n. Scots law. A court of sessions judgment determining the proper amount of tithes to be paid to church officers for their services.

deficiency decree

See deficiency judgment under JUDGMENT.

final decree

See final judgment under JUDGMENT.

foreclosure decree

1. Generally, a decree ordering a judicial foreclosure sale. 2. A decree ordering the strict foreclosure of a mortgage.

interlocutory decree

See interlocutory judgment under JUDGMENT.

nisi decree.

See decree nisi under DECREE.

ordered, adjudged, and decreed.

"The usual style of a decree is it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed'; and of an order or rule, it is ordered,' etc." 1 Henry Campbell Black, A Treatise on the Law of Judgments § 2, at 6-7 (2d ed. 1902).