Per curiam decision facts for kids
| Judicial opinions & aggregates for official decisions (O.S-Federal) |
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Majority opinion |
In law, a per curiam decision is a special type of ruling made by a group of judges. When an appellate court makes a per curiam decision, it means the ruling comes from the entire court, or at least most of the judges, working together. It's like the court is speaking with one voice.
Usually, when judges make a decision, one judge writes the main opinion and puts their name on it. But with a per curiam decision, no single judge is named as the author. It's truly "by the court." Even though the main decision doesn't have an author, if some judges disagree or want to add more thoughts, their separate opinions (called dissents or concurrences) will still have their names.
The Latin phrase per curiam literally means "by the court." This type of decision shows that the court as a whole agrees on the outcome.
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Per Curiam Decisions in the United States
How the U.S. Supreme Court Uses Them
The U.S. Supreme Court usually doesn't issue per curiam decisions. Most of their rulings are written by individual justices. These justices sign their names to the opinions, and other justices can join in if they agree. Even if all the justices agree and the decision is unanimous, it's not called per curiam unless the court officially labels it that way.
Per curiam decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court are usually quite short. The court states right at the beginning of the opinion that it is a per curiam decision.
A Famous Exception: Bush v. Gore
One very famous exception to the usual short per curiam decision was the case of Bush v. Gore. This decision was labeled per curiam, but it was not short. It also had many separate opinions from judges who agreed with parts of the decision or disagreed with it entirely. This made it very different from a typical per curiam ruling.
State Courts in the U.S.
Some state courts also use per curiam decisions. For example, the Supreme Court of California sometimes releases decisions "in the name of The Court." However, these decisions are not always unanimous. Sometimes, even when an opinion is in the name of the Court, there can be many separate opinions from judges who agree or disagree.
Per Curiam Decisions in Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada also issues decisions that are attributed to "The Court." However, they don't use the exact phrase per curiam. In the U.S., this term is often used for cases that are not very controversial. But in Canada, the Supreme Court has used this "by the court" approach for very important and sometimes controversial cases. They do this to show that all the judges on the court are speaking together with a single, strong voice on a significant issue.
