Legal Definition and Related Resources of Case

A general term having many meanings, depending on the context. May mean a cause in a suit, or action or trial commenced or pending in a court of law. Also the evidence and the arguments made on behalf of one party to a litigation is referred to as that party’s case. Sometimes the word is used to denote an occasion, or instance or an event such as in the phrase where the matter in controversy in any case exceeds the sum or value of four thousand dollars. The word case also had an ancient restricted meaning while occurring in the phrase actions on the case. An action on the case is basically an action in tort to recover damages for injury or loss resulting indirectly or consequentially from the act complained of. It was important that the loss or injury should not be the direct result of the act complained of but should be indirect or consequential. In a legal sense the word case means suit but in its ordinary usage means event, happening, situation, circumstances. Highfteld v Delaware trust Co., 188 A. 919. ‘

A question before a court of justice. 88 111. App. 199. Any state of facts which furnishes occasion for the exercise of the jurisdication of a court of justice or any question contested before such a court. 257 111. 55. A subject on which the judicial power is capable of acting and which has been submitted to it by a party in the form required by law. 88 111. App. 199. A question contested before a court of justice; an action or suit at law or in equity. 1 Wheat. (U.S.) 352; 4 Iowa, 152. A case arising under a treaty (Const. U.S. art. 3, § 2) is a suit where is drawn in question the construction of a treaty, and the decision is against the title set up by either party under such treaty. Story, J.,
I Wheat. (U.S.) 356. And see, also, 6 Cranch (U.S.) 286; 9 Wheat. (U.S.) 819;
II How. (U.S.) 529; 12 How. (U.S.) 111. A form of action which lies to recover damages for injuries for which the more ancient forms of action will not lie. Steph. PI. 15. “Case,” or, more fully, “action upon the case,” or “trespass on the case,” includes in its widest sense assumpsit and trover, and distinguishes a class of actions in which the writ is framed according to the special circumstances of the case, from the ancient actions, the writs in which, called brevia formata, are collected in the Registrum Brevium. Sometimes used for “case stated” (q.v.)

(Example), noun

• demonstration
• exemplification
• illustration
• instance
• model
• occurrence
• paradigm
• representative
• representative selection
• sample
• specimen
• type

(Lawsuit), noun

• action
• cause
• claim
• contention
• controversy
• court action
• dissension
• judicial contest
• legal argument
• legal dispute
• legal issue
• legal proceedings
• litigation
• matter
• matter forjudgment
• proceedings
• suit
• suit at law
• Associated Concepts: case arising under laws of the United States
• case arising under the Constitution
• case at common law
• case in equity
• case law
• case of fraud
• case on appeal
• case or controversy
• criminal case
• dismissal of a case
• divorce case
• equity case
• homicide case
• injunction case
• judicial case
• jury case
• justiciable case
• law case
• law of the case
• leading case
• meritorious case
• pending case
• prima facie case
• sufficient case for jury
• trespass on the case foreign phrases: Secta estpugna civilis; sicut adores armantur actionibus
• et
• quasi
• a ccinguntur gladiis
• ita rei muniuntur exceptionibus
• et defenduntur
• quasi c lypeis
• A suit is a civil battle; for as the plaintiffs are armed with actions
• and
• as it were
• girded with swords
• so the defendants are fortified with pleas
• and are defended
• as it were
• with shields
• Inconsimilicasu
• consimiledebet esse remedium
• In similar cases
• the remedy should be similar
• Ubi non est directa lex
• standum est arbitrio judicis
• velprocedendum adsimilia
• Where there is no direct law
• the decision of the judge is to be taken
• or references to be made to similar cases
• Certa debet esse intentio
• et narratio
• et certum fundamentum
• The intention
• declaration
• foundation
• and matter brought to the court to be tried ought to be certain

(Set of circumstances), noun

• affairs
• arrangement
• background
• circumstance
• condition
• conjuncture
• context
• course of events
• existing state
• factors
• grounds
• juncture
• milieu
• occurrence
• place
• plight
• point
• position
• posture
• predicament
• set of facts
• setting
• situation
• standing
• state
• state of affairs
• status
• terms

Browse or run a search for Case in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Case in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Case in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Case in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

You might be also interested in these legal terms:

Translate Case from English to Spanish

Translation of Case, with examples. More about free online translati
on into Spanish of Causa and other legal terms is available here.

• Causa
• Caso
• Legal English Translation

Translate Case Gets –Carried” from English to Spanish

Translation of Case Gets –Carried”, with examples. More about free online translation into Spanish of Quedar en espera and other legal terms is available here.

• Quedar en espera
• Legal English Translation

Translate Sever (A Case) from English to Spanish

Translation of Sever (A Case) , with examples. More about free online translation into Spanish of Separar and other legal terms is available here.

• Separar
• Legal English Translation

Translate Rest A Case from English to Spanish

Translation of Rest A Case , with examples. More about free online translation into Spanish of Concluir la presentación de pruebas and other legal terms is available here.

• Concluir la presentación de pruebas
• Legal English Translation

Browse

You might be interested in these references tools:

Resource	Description
Case in the Dictionary	Case in our legal dictionaries
Browse the Legal Thesaurus	Find synonyms and related words of Case
Legal Maxims	Maxims are established principles that jurists use as interpretive tools, invoked more frequently in international law
Legal Answers (Q&A)	A community-driven knowledge creation process, of enduring value to a broad audience
Related topics	Case in the World Encyclopedia of Law

Notice

This definition of Case is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

Vocabularies (Semantic Web Information)

<

Resource	Description
Topic Map	A group of names, occurrences and associations
Topic Tree	A topic display format, showing the hierarchy
Sitemap Index	Sitemap Index, including Taxonomies
https://legaldictionary.lawin.org/case/	The URI of Case (more about URIs)

Case in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

3. In pleading, a term for “action on the case”, “trespass on the case”, “special action of trespass on the case” -a common-law form of action. A remedy for all personal wrongs committed without force -where the injury is consequential. Called “case” because the plaintiff’s whole cause of complaint is set forth at length. 3 Bl. Com.122, 154.

Note: This legal definition of Case in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

Case in the One-L Dictionary

A case may refer to a civil or criminal suit or action, or it may refer to the reported facts, procedural history, or the decision in an action. The terms case, judgment, ruling, opinion, and decision are often used interchangeably.

Note: This Case definition in the One-L Dictionary for new law students is from Harvard Law School (HLS).

Case in other One-L Dictionary

(1) A civil or criminal action or lawsuit between two (or more) parties.
(2) A judicial or administrative decision and the accompanying opinion.

Case from the Washington and Lee University School of Law Dictionary.

English Spanish Translation of Case

Causa penal
To have a case: Tener una causa para litigar, tener argumentos válidos para litigar, una causa que pueda presentarse ante los Tribunales

Find other English to Spanish translations from the Pocket Spanish English Legal Dictionary (print and online), the English to Spanish to English dictionaries (like Case) and the Word reference legal translator.

Case in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of case.

Etimology of Case

(You may find case at the world legal encyclopedia and the etimology of more terms).

early 13c., “what befalls one; state of affairs,” from Old French cas “an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial,” from Latin casus “a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap,” literally “a falling,” from cas-, past participle stem of cadere “to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish” (used widely: of the setting of heavenly bodies, the fall of Troy, suicides), from PIE root *kad- “to lay out, fall or make fall, yield, break up” (source also of Sanskrit sad- “to fall down,” Armenian chacnum “to fall, become low,” perhaps also Middle Irish casar “hail, lightning”). The notion being “that which falls” as “that which happens” (compare befall). Meaning “instance, example” is from c. 1300. Meaning “actual state of affairs” is from c. 1400. Given widespread extended and transferred senses in English in law (16c.), medicine (18c.), etc.; the grammatical sense (late 14c.) was in Latin. U.S. slang meaning “person” is from 1848. In case “in the event” is recorded from mid-14c. Case history is from 1879, originally medical; case study “study of a particular case” is from 1879, originally legal.

Meaning of Case in Spanish

Description/ translation of case into Spanish: causa, asunto; to dispose of a case: sustanciar, tramitar una causa; criminal case: causa penal; weak case: caso poco sólido[1]

Note: for more information on related terms and on the area of law where case belongs (criminal procedure law), in Spanish, see here.

Notes and References

1. Translation of Case published by Antonio Peñaranda

Resources

See Also

• Law Enforcement Officer
• Police Officer
• Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

• case in A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (Oxford University Press)
• case in the Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement
• A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis

English Legal System: Case

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Case :

1. A court *action

2. A legal dispute.

3. The arguments, collectively, put forward by either side in a court action.

4. (action on the case) A form of action abolished by the Judicature Acts 1873-75.

(noun) statement of the facts in a trial, esp. the argument of one side

Legal Usage of Case (in Case/in Case Of) in English

An European Commission document offers the following explanation about the misused of Case (in Case/in Case Of) :In English, ‘in case of’ is most commonly used in sentences that follow the pattern: ‘in case of fire, break glass’ i.e. ‘in the event of an (adverse) occurrence36, act as follows’. In European Union texts, on the other hand, it is often erroneously used to replace the preposition ‘for’ (e.g. ‘farmers are subject to possible reductions in case of non-compliance’ (= for non-compliance). ‘In case’ (without ‘of’) is often used instead of ‘if’, ‘when’ or ‘where’ (‘the fund can be mobilised in case the damage caused by a national disaster exceeds the threshold’). This use is not only incorrect English, but it may also be misunderstood (in the case in point, the sentence does not mean ‘we can mobilise the fund if and when the damage exceeds the threshold’, as intended by the author, but ‘we can mobilise the fund in order to prevent the damage exceeding the threshold’, which is a different thing entirely)37.

Examples

‘Farmers are … subject to possible reduction of the grubbing-up premium in case of non-compliance with certain requirements38.’ ‘in case of pigs and poultry, at least 20 % of the feed shall come from the farm unit itself39.’ ‘The likelihood of continuation of dumping in case the measures would be (sic) allowed to lapse is examined in the following40,’ ‘The fund can be mobilised in case the damages (sic) caused by a national disaster exceed the threshold of three billion euro41.’

Alternatives

for, if, when, where. You can also say ‘in the case of’ (pigs, for example) or ‘in cases of’ or ‘in the event of’ (e.g. non-compliance).

Resources

Further Reading

• David Mellinkoff, “Mellinkoff’s Dictionary of American Legal Usage”, West Publishing Company, 1992
• Bryan A. Garner, “A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage”, West Publishing Company, 1995

Concept of Case in the context of Real Property

Alternatives definitions of Case: (1) An external framework of a structure. (2) A court action.

Concept of Case in the context of Real Property

Alternatives definitions of Case: (1) An external framework of a structure. (2) A court action.

Case in the National Security Context

A definition and brief description of Case in relation to national security is as follows:An entire intelligence operation.

Case

Case