Harmless Error

Harmless Error Legal Definition

An error committed by a lower court during a trial, but determined by an appellate court not to be prejudicial to the rights of the party affected, and therefore furnishing no basis for reversal of the lower court’s judgment.

Harmless Error in the law of the United States

Harmless Error: Related U.S. Resources

• Harmless Error in the American Law Encyclopedia
• Judicial Effects and Policies Keywords in the U.S. Legal Corpus
• Judicial Policies Topics in the United States Legal Dictionary

See Also

Appeal (in the U.S. Legal Encyclopedia) Reversal (in the U.S. Legal Encyclopedia) Reversible Error (in the U.S. Legal Encyclopedia).

Meaning of Harmless Error in the U.S. Legal System

Definition of Harmless Error published by the National Association for Court Management: An error committed during a trial that was corrected or was not serious enough to affect the outcome of a trial and therefore was not sufficiently harmful (prejudicial) to be reversed on appeal.