Legal Definitions - laudare

Laudare is a Latin term, primarily used in civil law, that means to cite or refer to something as an authority. It describes the act of invoking a legal source, such as a statute, a previous court decision, or the work of a legal scholar, to support a legal argument or to justify a ruling.

Historically, laudare also referred to the act of a judge making a judicial determination or passing judgment on a case.

• Imagine a lawyer preparing a legal brief for a client involved in a contract dispute. To strengthen their argument, the lawyer might laudare a specific article from the country's civil code that clearly defines the obligations of parties in such contracts. By doing so, they are presenting that article as the authoritative legal basis for their client's position.

• In an academic setting, a legal scholar writing an article about property rights might laudare a landmark Supreme Court decision that established a key principle regarding eminent domain. This means the scholar is using that specific court ruling as a foundational and authoritative reference to explain or support their analysis.

• When a judge issues a written opinion explaining their decision in a complex family law case, they often laudare relevant statutes or prior appellate court decisions. For instance, the judge might cite a particular section of the family code or a previous ruling on child custody to demonstrate that their judgment is consistent with established law and precedent.