Judgment

Judgment in United Kingdom

Meaning of Judgment

The following is an old definition of Judgment [1]: The saying of the law; the sentence of the law, pronounced by the court, upon the matter contained in the record. The determination of the law as the result of proceedings instituted in a court of justice. The final determination of the rights of the parties in the action. An adjudication of the rights of the parties in respect to the claim involved. The conclusion that naturally and regularly follows from the premises of law and fact. This conclusion depends not upon the arbitrary caprice of the judge, but upon settled, invariable principles of justice. The judgment, in short, is the remedy prescribed by law for the redress of injuries; the suit or action is the vehicle or means of administering it. A step by which a plaintiff, if successful, obtains what he is seeking. It declares, does not create, a right. May be set aside or reversed, and gives no right superior to that which the plaintiff had before he obtained it. In its comprehensive sense, embraces not only judgments strictly so called, but also definitive decrees and orders in the nature of judgments. In criminal law, denotes the action of the court before which a trial is had, declaring the consequences to the convict of the fact ascertained by his conviction. See Conviction; Sentence. What is ordered and adjudged by the court, not merely what is entered, constitutes the judgment. The more common judgments rendered are: for platatiff – by confession, or by default; for defend- ant – by non suit, non prosequitur, retraxit, nolle posequi, discontinuance, or stet processus; for either plaintiff or defendant – upon a demurrer, an issue of nul tiel record, or a verdict, 0 qsee, in this resource, the term Accumtilative judgment. A sentence to imprisonment for a term to commence after a previous term has expired. See Sentence, Cumulative.Domestic judgment. A judgment rendered by a court at the domicil of the parties. Foreign judgment. That rendered under some other and independent or foreign jurisdiction. An action of debt lies upon a foreign judgment. At common law such a judgment was prima facie evidence of tlie debt adjudged to be due. It maybe shown that the court had no jurisdiction or that the judgment was obtained by fraud. A domestic judgment, at common law, could not be collaterally impeached, if rendered in a court of competent jurisdiction; but only by a writ of error, a, petition for a new trial, or a bill in chancery. Judgments recovered in one State, when proved in the courts of another, differ from judgments recovered in a foreign country in no other respect than that of not being re-examinable upon the merits, nor impeachable for fraud in obtaining them, if rendered by a court having jurisdiction of the cause and of the parties. Though the judgment be set out in full in the complaint, the action, whether debt or assumpsit, will not be held to be brought on such judgment as a record, if the complaint alleges that by reason of the judgment the defendant became indebted. See Faith, Full, etc.; Law, Foreign. Pinal judgment. Such judgment as at once puts an end to the action by declaring that the plaintiff has or has not entitled him-self to the remedy for which he sues. Interlocutory judgment. Is upon some intermediate plea, proceeding, or default, and does not finally determine or complete the suit. The “interlocutory judgment” most frequently spoken of is that incomplete judgment whereby the right of the plaintiff is established, but the quantum of damages is not ascertained. A “final judgment” at once puts an end to the action, by determining that the plaintiff is, or is not, entitled to recover, and the amount in debt or damages to be recovered. No judgment is final which does not terminate the litigation between the parties. A motion for a new trial prevents a judgment from becoming efiPectual as a final judgment, until the date of the order refusing the new trial. All that is required is that the judgment should determine the issues involved in the action. It may be that some future order may become necessary to cany the judgment into effect. A judgment being the final determination of the rights of the parties in an action, it must be final – that is, it must settle the matter which it purports to conclude. The reasons annoimced form no part of it. A judgment is ‘”interlocutory” when given in the course of a cause before final judgment. See further Decree, Final. A judgment for damages, estimated in money, is sometimes called by text writers a specialty or ” contract by record,” because it establishes a legal obligation to pay the amount recovered; and, by a fiction of law, a promise to pay is implied where such legal obligation exists. But this fiction cannot convert a transaction wanting the assent of parties into one which necessarily implies it, as, a judgment for a tort. In some decided cases, and in text books, judges and jurists have spoken of judgments as ” contracts.” They have been so classified with reference to the remedies upon them. But, strictly, as said by Lord Mansfield, in 1764, ” a judgment is no contract, nor can be considered in that light: tov judicium redditur in invitum” – consent and consideration are both wanting. The judgment of a court of concurrent jurisdiction, directly upon the point, is, as a plea, a bar; or, as evidence, conclusive between the same parties, upon the same matter, directly in question in another court. The judgment of a court of exclusive jurisdiction, directly upon the point, is, in like manner, conclusive upon the same matter, between the same parties, coming incidentally in question in another court, for a different purpose. But the judgment of neither a court of concurrent nor of exclusive jurisdiction is evidence of any matter which came collaterally in question, though within the jurisdiction; nor of any matter indirectly cognizable; nor of any matter to be inferred by argument from the judgment. A judgment is valid upon its face, if It appears that the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the parties, and that a judgment had in fact been rendered. All defenses admissible against a judgment where it was recovered are admissible in an action upon it in another State. Want of jurisdiction is a good defense. Whether fraud in procuring it is, seems to defend upon the practice in the forum where the action is brought. See Jurisdiction. A distinction between erroneous and void judgments is universally recognized. See Error, 2 (2), Erroneous. At common law, a judgment was not a lien upon realty; a lien arose from the power to issue a writ of elegit, by statute of 13 Ed. I (1286), c. 18. The right to extend the land fixed the lien upon it. The reason was, lands answered for feudal duties, and a new tenant could not be forced upon the lord. Judgments rendered in the courts of the United States are liens upon the defendant’s realty in all cases where similar judgments of the State courts are made liens by the law of the State.” See Addenda 12 11 30 The lien of a judgment is co-extensive with the territorial limits of the court in which the judgment is rendered. Judgment-docket. A public record intended to afford purchasers and subsequent incumbrancers reliable information in regard to the existence or lien of judgments. If the entry of a judgment is wrong in name, amount, or time, a third person who does not know of the error, will be protected against loss from having acted upon the reliability of the record statements. See Idem, Sonans. See Amendment; Confession; Conviction; Creditor; Debt; Decree; Default; Demurrer; Execution. 3; Joint and Several; Merger; Open, 1 (4); Prejudice, Without; Praesumptio, Omnia; Recovery; Render, 4; Reversal; Review; Satisfaction; Sign; Term, 4; Terre-tenant; Valid.

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Notes and References

  1. Concept of Judgment provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence

Concept of Dome, Doom

Traditional meaning of dome, doom [1] in the Saxon law history: Judgment; sentence. Domesday-book: an ancient survey or inquisition of all the lands in England, taken under William the Conqueror, and preserved in the Exchequer; see 2 Bl .Com. 49; COURT, 11.

Note: For more information on Saxon Law history, see here.

[rtbs name=”saxon-law”]

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Notes and References

  1. Based on A concise law dictionary of words, phrases and maxims, “Dome, Doom”, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1911, United States. This term is absolete. It is also called the Stimson’s Law dictionary, based on a glossary of terms, included Dome, Doom.

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