Plain Error - Law Dictionary Search Results

Home Dictionary Name: plain error

error : an act that through ignorance, deficiency, or accident departs from or fails to achieve what should be done [procedural s] ;esp : a mistake made by a lower court in conducting judicial proceedings or making findings in a case [to compel to conclusion that a manifest has been done "Moses v. Burgin, 445 F.2d 369 (1971)"] often used without an article [had been to give the jury special interrogatories "K. A. Cohen"]; see also assignment of error, clearly erroneous NOTE: Generally a party must object to an error at trial in order to raise it as an issue on appeal. clear error : an error made by a judge in his or her findings of fact which is such that it leaves the reviewing court with the firm and definite conviction that a mistake has been made NOTE: A clear error may or may not warrant reversal. fundamental error : plain error in this entry used esp. in criminal cases harmless error : an error that does not affect a substantial right or change the outcome of a trial a...

Stare decisis

Stare decisis, to abide by authorities or cases already adjudicated upon.The doctrine of precedent , under which it is necess-ary for a court to follow earlier judicial decisions when some points arise again in litigation, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1414.Stare decisis is a well-known doctrine in legal jurisprudence. The doctrine of stare decisis, meaning to stand by decided cases, rests upon the principle that law by which men are governed should be fixed, definite and known, and that, when the law is declared by a court of competent jurisdiction authorised to construe it, such declaration, in absence of palpable mistake or error, is itself evidence of the law until changed by competent authority. It requires that rules of law when clearly announced and established by a court of last resort should not be lightly disregarded and set aside but should be adhered to and followed. What it precludes is that where a principle of law has become established by a series of decisions, i...

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