To request additional definitions,
email lawbook@jurisdictionary.com.

Judgment

The order of a court determining the outcome of a dispute. Judgments are issued by judges, who are the only persons having authority to enter such orders.

Judgment Creditor

One in favor of whom the Court has issued judgment finding the judgment debtor to owe money.

Judgment Debtor

One against whom the Court has issued judgment finding he owes the judgment creditor money.

Judgment Proof

An individual who owns nothing (or owns only property that is exempt from levy pursuant to state or federal law) is said to be judgment proof. If an individual doesn’t have any non-exempt property, suing him is a waste of time, because a money judgment against him is useless if you cannot collect what the Court declares that he owes.
    It’s always a good idea, if possible, to see if the person you intend to sue is judgment proof. If he has nothing to recover, you’re only wasting your time to file a suit against him.

Judicial Discretion

See discretion.

Judicial Notice

The court’s declaration of fact and/or law that controls the outcome of a controversy. The court may do this on its own, or it may do so upon the motion of any party at any time. The court may be moved to take judicial notice of any commonly known fact, e.g., that Tuesday regularly follows Monday or that the moon was full at least once during the past 30 days or so. The court may also be moved to take judicial notice of any law that controls the outcome of your case, whether the law is statute, constitutional, or case law. Any law. Any commonly known fact about which reasonable people do not dispute. Judicial notice is an excellent way to establish a fact you need to "prove" in order to win your case. This is your right ... part of your pen power.

Judiciary

The judiciary is that body of individuals who are the judges and justices of our courts (as opposed to clerks, bailiffs, and lawyers). The judiciary is a powerful moral force in our nation. The judiciary molds the mores of our nation by entering orders and judgments that affect us all ... often in ways we don't want and don't recognize until the damage on our society has already come upon us. You need to understand the judiciary's great power and learn how to control it peaceably for the good of all. Learn how to use The Rule of Law and the principles and practices of due process taught by Jurisdictionary. The judiciary is supposed to interpret the law, not make it. Too often they act "above the law" to change the law, and we all suffer as a consequence. Learn how to control your courts!

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of a court is its legal authority to act. This is very important. Different courts have different jurisdictions. Please take note that every court does not have jurisdiction to hear every kind of case. Some courts are limited to a maximum dollar amount. Other courts cannot hear family matters or lawsuits between parties fighting over property boundaries. If you are sued, make certain the court your opponent selected is the proper court, i.e., that the court you are in actually has jurisdiction over the matter presented by the plaintiff. If you are the plaintiff, make very sure you are in the right court.

Jury

A panel of lay-persons assembled to hear evidence in a trial and to determine the truth or falsity of such evidence. The jury is always a finder of fact, while the judge always rules on the applicability of law to facts found by the fact finder. (In non-jury trials, the judge acts both as finder of fact and to decide the applicability of law to the facts that are found.)

Justice

Justice is both a metaphysical and a political concept.

Philosophers agree there is a divine justice that rules everything and everyone, while the political machinery of human institutions can only regulate the behavior of individuals in the name of the state. The two forms of justice are clearly not the same.

Justice in the divine sense is rule of God by which goodness and truth eventually triumph over evil and deception. Justice in this sense is an eternal unseen framework that reaches beyond human reason to bring about the downfall of evil and deception by prospering kindness and truth. Human justice can never be more than an approximation of the divine.

Human justice is fraught with human failures. Sometimes the rule of the state is good and sometimes it is wholly evil and corrupt, serving self-interest instead of justice. Men mete out human justice in accordance with written laws penned by mortals serving their own self-interest. God, on the other hand, measures each of us according to a higher justice that obeys a simpler, yet far more comprehensive set of laws.

The goals of human justice are too often aimed only at securing domestic tranquility and promoting peace and prosperity for the state ... not necessarily with consideration for the welfare of individuals who at times may challenge the wisdom of political leadership and for their efforts suffer penalties of imprisonment, banishment, or death.

Divine justice always abides in truth, ruling galaxies of stars as well as every form of human enterprise.

Man’s laws are frequently evaded.

God’s laws never are.

Man’s justice proposes to meet the needs of human destiny through collective management of individuals through force. This is not Justice in an absolute sense, but justice as man’s approximation. Man’s justice is achieved through the exercise of police power to enforce the collective will against individuals.

In western society justice proposes to protect every individual, i.e., the common man. In this we prosper. As we work together to protect innocence we pave the way to a brighter future for our children. Justice keeps it bright. We act in concert because we all want what justice alone can secure for us -- peace.

So, in spite of all adversity, justice and peace march steadfastly forward against the crazed pitch of self-interested opposition.

Justice tempered by mercy should be our goal ... justice founded on written law, not the cruel man-hating whims of some who take it upon themselves to know what’s best for all of us. Justice keeps them at bay.

Mercy holds the scale. Wisdom tips the balance.

Will we prepare future leaders to submit to the rule of law? Will we constrain them to operate within the principles of due process?

When man takes the law into his own hands (either individually or through the power of the collective and its court systems) to achieve what he (or the collective) wishes to achieve (outside the law) it is then that wars begin. Whether man’s justice will be constrained by the Rule of Law and the power of due process is a question facing each of us. Will justice survive, or will the collective and powerful self-interested forces within the collective destroy individuality and the Rule of Law altogether?

Justice thinks upon these things. Will we?

We can make the future brighter by passing the light of our American heritage of law to future generations, or we can allow the light to dim and ultimately fail altogether by being forgotten or purposely hidden from us.

The challenge of lifting the lamp of liberty is presented to us each moment of our lives.

Now we choose. Will we obey Law ... or man?

Will each of us be equal with all others, or will the rich and powerful rule?

How much will your children remember? Who will secure justice for them? Will they even know what justice is? Justice is the lamp of liberty, truth in action. It is man’s eternal challenge to lift that lamp for future generations, so they may find their way to peace. Fight the battle for their destiny.

Teach your children how to win!

Judges sitting on supreme courts, including the United States Supreme Court and supreme courts of the various states, are called justices instead of judges out of reverence for their high office.