Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Non liquet is a Latin term that means "it is not clear." In civil law, it refers to the principle that a decision-maker may choose not to decide a dispute if the matter is unclear. In international law, it refers to a tribunal's nondecision due to the unclarity of the law applicable to the dispute. However, courts are not allowed to declare a non liquet.
Definition: Non liquet is a Latin term that means "it is not clear." In law, it refers to a situation where a decision-maker may decline to make a decision on a dispute because the matter is unclear.
In civil law, non liquet is a principle that allows a judge to refuse to make a decision if the case is unclear. For example, if a judge is presented with a case where the evidence is insufficient or contradictory, they may say "non liquet" and find for the defendant.
In international law, non liquet refers to a tribunal's non-decision resulting from the unclarity of the law applicable to the dispute at hand. However, in modern usage, the phrase appears almost always in passages stating what a court must not do: tribunals are routinely disallowed from declaring a non liquet.
For example, if a judge is presented with a case where the evidence is insufficient or contradictory, they may say "non liquet" and find for the defendant. This means that the judge cannot make a decision because the evidence is not clear enough to make a ruling.