Latin Legal Abbreviations
22 abbreviations · part of Legal Abbreviations
Latin legal terms that lawyers, judges and court clerks actually write in shortened form, from deed and caption phrases such as et ux. and ex rel. to procedural shorthand such as cert., nol. pros. and IFP. Many survive from centuries of English common-law practice, when writs and records were kept in Latin. Everyday Latin abbreviations such as e.g., i.e., etc. and et al. are covered with common abbreviations rather than here.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| c.t.a. | Cum testamento annexo (with the will annexed) | Designation for an administrator appointed to settle an estate that has a valid will but no executor able or willing to serve, as when the named executor has died or… |
| cert. | Certiorari | Writ by which a higher court, most notably the US Supreme Court, agrees to review a lower court's decision. |
| Cur. adv. vult | Curia advisari vult (the court wishes to consider) | Notation in English law reports showing that the court reserved judgment after argument rather than ruling immediately, with judgment delivered on a later date. |
| d.b.n. | De bonis non (of goods not administered) | Designation for a successor fiduciary appointed to finish administering an estate after the original executor or administrator dies, resigns or is removed. |
| et ux. | Et uxor (and wife) | Phrase added after a man's name in deeds, mortgages, title records and older case captions to show that his wife is also a party, as in "John Smith et ux." It allowed a… |
| ex p. | Ex parte (on the application of) | Prefix in older English and Commonwealth case names identifying the party who applied for a prerogative remedy such as judicial review, as in "R v Secretary of State… |
| ex rel. | Ex relatione (on the relation of) | Phrase in a case name showing that the government is suing on the information or at the instigation of a private party, called the relator, as in "United States ex rel. |
| fi. fa. | Fieri facias (that you cause to be made) | Writ of execution directing a sheriff or enforcement officer to seize and sell a judgment debtor's goods to satisfy a money judgment. |
| habeas | Habeas corpus (you should have the body) | Shortened form of habeas corpus, the writ by which a prisoner challenges the legality of detention before a court. |
| i.a. | Inter alia (among other things) | Signals that the items mentioned are only some of those that could be listed. |
| IFP | In forma pauperis (in the manner of a pauper) | Status granted to a litigant who cannot afford court fees, allowing a lawsuit or appeal to proceed without prepaying filing costs. |
| JNOV | Judgment non obstante veredicto (judgment notwithstanding the verdict) | Judgment entered by a trial judge for one party despite a jury verdict for the other, because no reasonable jury could have reached that verdict on the evidence. |
| L.S. | Locus sigilli (place of the seal) | Printed beside the signature lines of deeds, bonds and older contracts to mark where a seal would be affixed. |
| nem. con. | Nemine contradicente (with no one dissenting) | Records in minutes that a motion or resolution passed with no votes against it, even if some members abstained. |
| nol. pros. | Nolle prosequi (to be unwilling to prosecute) | Formal entry by a prosecutor abandoning a criminal charge, ending prosecution of that count without a verdict. |
| nolo | Nolo contendere (I do not wish to contend) | Criminal plea in which the defendant accepts conviction and punishment without admitting guilt, commonly called a "no contest" plea. |
| pro per | In propria persona (in one's own person) | Status of a party who represents himself or herself in court without a lawyer, used especially in California and some other western states. |
| pro tem. | Pro tempore (for the time being) | Marks a temporary holder of an office or a stopgap arrangement. |
| R. | Rex or Regina (the King or the Queen) | Designates the Crown as prosecuting party in criminal cases, and as nominal party in judicial review, in England, Wales and other Commonwealth countries, as in "R v… |
| res ipsa | Res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself) | Shortened name of a tort doctrine allowing a jury to infer negligence from an accident that ordinarily does not happen without negligence, when the cause was under the… |
| ss. | Scilicet (namely, to wit) | Notation printed in the venue block at the top of affidavits, acknowledgments and jurats, between the state and county names, as in "State of New York, County of Kings… |
| sub nom. | Sub nomine (under the name) | Citation phrase showing that a case continued under a different name at a later stage, as in "aff'd sub nom. |