Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

judicial restraint

1. A restraint imposed by a court, as by a restraining order, injunction, or judgment. 2. The principle that, when a court can resolve a case based on a particular issue, it should do so, without reaching unnecessary issues. 3. A philosophy of judicial decision-making whereby judges avoid indulging their personal beliefs about the public good and instead try merely to interpret the law as legislated and according to precedent. - Also termed (in senses 2 & 3) judicial self-restraint. CC JUDICIAL ACTIVISM.