judgment

In English legal proceedings, the judgment is the final decision which determines the rights and obligations of the parties; this declaration of the parties’ rights and obligations after the court has heard the parties’ submissions and evidence at the trial. It is at this time that the proceedings are at an end, as the judgment completes the proceedings and disposes of the case. Judgments have effect from the time they are pronounced by a Court and are “entered” after the document containing the judgment is prepared and sealed by the court.

Final judgments are unique, as the proceedings become res judicata, and the findings of the court in the proceedings may only be challenged on appeal to the court higher in the judicial hierarchy. In England this is most often the Court of Appeal, however important exceptions apply.

Judgment may be in personam or in rem. In personam judgments impose personal liability upon a party (such as an injunction or obligation to pay damages); In rem judgments determine a right, status in respect to property which is binding against the world at large.

In the course of the proceedings, a court may issue interim judgments, which are more frequently referred to as “orders” or “directions”, as the case may be. Interim judgments are merely intermediate and do not finally determine the rights of the parties or complete the action.

The term judgment may also be used to describe the reasons for the decision of the court in a particular set of legal proceedings; the ratio decidendi of the decision are the reasons why the judge(s) reached the particular decision in the case at hand; obiter dicta are mere comments in passing, which may be persuasive in later decisions having regard for the court making such comments.

Usage: The court made its judgment extemporaneously, bring an end to the litigation.

Related Words: res judicata; in rem; in personam; court order; interim order; interim injunction; case management directions; application notice; interim remedy; interlocutory; litigation; foreign judgment.