Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Arrest of judgment

the staying of a judgment after its entry; esp., a court's refusal to render or enforce a judgment because of a defect apparent from the record. ( at common law, courts have the power to arrest judgment for intrinsic causes appearing on the record, as when the verdict differs materially from the pleadings or when the case alleged in the pleadings is legally insufficient. Today, this type of defect must typically be objected to before trial or before judgment is entered, so that the motion in arrest of judgment has been largely superseded. "an arrest of judgment [under common law] was the technical term describing the act of a trial judge refusing to enter judgment on the verdict because of an error appearing on the face of the record that rendered the judgment invalid." united states u. Sisson, 399 u.s. 267, 280-81, 90 s.ct. 2117, 2125 (1970).

Attachment. 1. The seizing of a person's property to secure a judgment or to be sold in satisfaction of a judgment. - also termed (in civil law) provisional seizure. Cf. Garnishment; sequestration (1)

Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.

A uniform law, adopted by several states, that gives the holder of a foreign judgment essentially the same rights to levy and execute on the judgment as the holder of a domestic judgment. ( The Act defines a foreign judgment as any judgment, decree, or order of a court in the United States or of any other court) that is entitled to full faith and credit in the state. See FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.

Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act

A uniform state law giving the holder of a foreign judgment the right to levy and execute as if it were a domestic judgment.

abstract of judgment

A copy or summary of a judgment that, when filed with the appropriate public office, creates a lien on the judgment debtor's nonexempt property. See judgment lien under LIEN.

accumulative judgment

A second or additional judgment against a person who has already been convicted, the execution of which is postponed until the completion of any prior sentence.

accumulative judgment.

See JUDGMENT.

agreed judgment

A settlement that becomes a court judgment when the judge sanctions it. - Also termed consent judgment; stipulated judgment.

altering or amending a judgment

a trial court's act of correcting a substantive mistake in a judgment, as by correcting a manifest error of law or fact. fed. r. civ. p. 59(e).

alternative judgment

A determination that gives the losing party options for satisfying that party's duties.

amicable scire facias to revive a judgment

A written agreement in which a person against whom a revival of an action is sought agrees to the entry of an adverse judgment.

bona fide judgment creditor

One who recovers a judgment without engaging in fraud or collusion.

bona fide judgment creditor.

See JUDGMENT CREDITOR.

business-judgment rule

Corporations. The presumption that in making business decision> not involving direct self-interest or self-dealin_. corporate directors act on an informed basis. n good faith, and in the honest belief that the actions are in the corporation's best interest. 4 The rule shields directors and officers from liability for unprofitable or harmful corpora(e transactions if the transactions were made in good faith, with due care, and within the directors' or officers' authority.

cognovit judgment

A debtor's confession of judgment; judgment entered in accordance with a cognovit. See CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT; COGNOVIT.

confession of judgment

1. A person's agreeing to the entry of judgment upon the occurrence or nonoccurrence of an event, such as making a payment. 2. A judgment taken against a debtor by the creditor, based on the debtor's written consent. 3. The paper on which the person so agrees, before it is entered. - Also termed confessed judgment; cog-nouit judgment; statement of confession. See COGNOVIT. Cf. WARRANT OF ATTORNEY.

confession of judgment.

See CONFESSION OF JUDGMENT.

consent judgment

See agreed JUDGMENT.

declaratory judgment

See JUDGMENT.

declaratory judgment.

A binding adjudication that establishes the rights and other legal relations of the parties without providing for or ordering enforcement. ( Declaratory judgments are often sought, for example, by insurance companies in determining whether a policy covers a given insured or peril. - Also termed declaratory decree; declaration. default judgment. See DEFAULT JUDGMENT. See DEFAULT JUDGMENT.

declaratory-judgment act

A federal or state law permitting parties to bring an action to determine their legal rights and positions regarding a controversy not yet ripe for adjudication, as when an insurance company seeks a determination of coverage before deciding whether to cover a claim. See declaratory judgment under JUDGMENT.

default judgment

1 A judgment entered against a defendant who has failed to plead or otherwise defend against the plaintiff's claim, often by failing to appear at trial. 2. A judgment entered as a penalty against a party who does not comply with an order, esp. an order to comply with a discovery request. - Also termed judgment by default. See JUDGMENT.

deferred judgment

A judgment placing a convicted defendant on probation, the successful completion of which will prevent entry of the underlying judgment of conviction. ( This type of probation is common with minor traffic offenses. - Also termed deferred adjudication; deferred-adjudication probation; deferred prosecution; probation before judgment; probation without judgment; pretrial intervention.

deficiency judgment

A judgment against a debtor for the unpaid balance of the debt if a foreclosure sale or a sale of repossessed personal property fails to yield the full amount of the debt due. - Also termed deficiency decree.

definitive judgment

See final judgment.

determinative judgment

See final judgment.

doctrine of the conclusiveness of the judgment

See judicial estoppel under ESTOPPEL.

domestic judgment

A judgment rendered by the courts of the state or country where the judgment or its effect is at issue.

dormant judgment

See JUDGMENT.

dormant judgment.

A judgment that has not been executed or enforced within the statutory time limit. ( As a result, any judgment lien may have been lost and execution cannot be issued unless the judgment creditor first revives the judgment. See REVIVAL (1).

entry of judgment

The ministerial recording of a court's final decision, usu. by noting it in a judgment book or civil docket. Cf. RENDITION of JUDGMENT.

erroneous judgment

See JUDGMENT.

error-of-judgment rule

The doctrine that a professional is not liable to a client for advice or an opinion given in good faith and with an honest belief that the advice was in the client's best interests, but that was based on a mistake either in judgment or in analyzing an unsettled area of the professional's business. ( For example, an attorney who makes an error in trial tactics involving an unsettled area of the law may, under certain circumstances, defeat a malpractice claim arising from the tactical error. - Also termed judgmental immunity.

ester in judgment

[Law French] To appear before a tribunal, as either plaintiff or defendant.

estoppel by judgment

See COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL.

excess judgment

A judgment that exceeds all of the defendant's insurance coverage.

executory judgment

A judgment that has not been carried out, suchas a yet-to-be fulfilled order for the defendant to pay the plaintiff.

exercise of judgment

The use of sound discretion - that is, discretion exercised with regard to what is right and equitable rather than arbitrarily or willfully.

false judgment

Hist. A writ filed to obtain review of a judgment of a court not of record. "After judgment given, a writ also of false judgment lies to the courts at Westminster to rehear and review the cause, and not a writ of error; for this is not a court of record ...." 3 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 34 (1768).

final appealable judgment

See final judgment under JUDGMENT.

final judgment

A court's last action that settles the rights of the parties and disposes of all issues in controversy, except for the award of costs (and, sometimes, attorney's fees) and enforcement of the judgment. -Also termed final appealable judgment; final decision; final decree; definitive judgment; determinative judgment; final appealable order.

final judgment rule

The principle that a party may appeal only from a district court's final decision that ends the litigation on the merits. ( Under this rule, a party must raise all claims of error in a single appeal. - Also termed finaldecision rule; finality rule. 28 USCA § 1291. Cf. FINALITY DOCTRINE; INTERLOCUTORY APPEALS ACT. final-offer arbitration. See ARBITRATION.

foreign judgment

A judgment rendered by a court of a state or country different from that where the judgment or its effect is at issue.

in personam judgment

See personal judgment.

in rein judgment

See judgment in rein.

in rem judgment

See judgment in rem under JUDGMENT.

interlocutory judgment

An intermediate judgment that determines a preliminary or subordinate point or plea but does not finally decide the case. -Also termed interlocutory decree.

irregular judgment

A judgment that may be set aside because of some irregularity in the way it was rendered, such as a clerk's failure to send a defendant notice that a default judgment has been rendered.

judgment

1. A court's final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case. ( The term judgment includes a decree and any order from which an appeal lies. Fed. R. Civ. P. 54. - Also spelled (esp. in BrE) judgement. - Abbr. J. Cf. RULING; OPINION (1). 2. English law. An opinion delivered by a member of the appellate committee of the House of Lords; a Law Lord's judicial opinion. "An action is instituted for the enforcement of a right or the redress of an injury. Hence a judgment, as the culmination of the action declares the existence of the right, recognizes the commission of the injury, or negatives the allegation of one or the other. But as no right can exist without a correlative duty, nor any invasion of it without a corresponding obligation to make amends, the judgment necessarily affirms, or else denies, that such a duty or such a liability rests upon the person against whom the aid of the law is invoked." 1 Henry Campbell Black, A Treatise on the Law of Judgments § 1, at 2 (2d ed. 1902).

judgment as a matter of law

See JUDGMENT.