Legal Latin

For example: Stare decisis is a Latin legal term, literally meaning “to stand by things decided.” It is a term used in common law systems to express the notion that prior court decisions must be recognised as precedent. In other words, lower courts are bound…

Infra, Latin for “below”, is legal shorthand to indicate that a particular reference will be further discussed or cited later in a document. Infra is distinguished from supra, Latin for “above”, which indicates that the case or point has already been discussed or cited previously…

Per diem, is Latin for “per day” or “for each day”. The phrase primarily refers to the daily rate of any kind of payment. It is also commonly used to refer to the daily allowance a company gives an employee to cover living and traveling…

Mutatis mutandis is (literally) Latin for “with those things having been changed which need to be changed.” However, it is more often translated or understood to mean “the necessary changes having been made”. It essentially indicates that new terms have been substituted or that the…

In the area of criminal law, mens rea, the Latin term “guilty mind”, is often a necessary element of a crime. Many crimes require a specific mental intent on the part of the wrongdoer in order to qualify as a restricted offence. Examples of the…

Amicus curiae is a legal Latin phrase which literally means “friend of the court”. The phrase refers to a third party (a person or group who is not a party in a dispute) who petitions the court for permission to submit a brief in the…

Pro forma is a legal Latin phrase meaning “as a matter of form”. In practice, the phrase usually refers to an act or document which is preliminary or satisfies the minimum requirements in a perfunctory manner. The meaning of the phrase can differ depending on…

For example: Pro se is a Latin term meaning “on one’s own behalf”. In the court setting, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers or other representatives. Some individuals choose to act pro se because they have legal experience or are…

Bona fide is Latin for good faith and is an important concept in law. It generally connotes something genuine, lawful, or made or done in good faith, which signifies the mental state of honesty as to the truth or falsehood of a proposition or opinion,…

For example: Obiter dicta (sometimes referred to merely as dicta), is a Latin expression literally meaning “said by the way” or a “statement in passing”. It is used for statements, remarks or observations made by a judge that re incidental or supplementary in deciding a…