Legal Definitions - per saltum

Per saltum is a Latin term meaning "by a leap." In legal and administrative contexts, it describes a situation where a usual or required intermediate step, stage, or level in a process is bypassed, and the action moves directly from an earlier point to a later one. It signifies skipping over the normal, expected progression.

• Example 1: Judicial Process

  Imagine a legal dispute that normally proceeds from a trial court to an intermediate court of appeals, and then potentially to the highest court in the jurisdiction. If, under specific legal provisions or extraordinary circumstances, a case is permitted to be appealed directly from the trial court to the highest court, completely bypassing the intermediate appellate court, this would be an appeal taken per saltum. The process "leaped" over the standard middle step.

• Example 2: Corporate Hierarchy

  Consider a large company with a well-defined career path for its employees: entry-level analyst, senior analyst, team lead, department manager, and then director. If an exceptionally talented employee is promoted directly from senior analyst to director, completely skipping the team lead and department manager positions, their promotion would be described as occurring per saltum. They "leaped" over several standard rungs on the corporate ladder.

• Example 3: Legislative Action

  In some legislative systems, new laws often go through several readings, committee reviews, and amendments before a final vote. If a government introduces a critical piece of legislation and, due to an emergency or special procedure, pushes it directly to a final vote without undergoing the usual committee scrutiny or multiple reading stages, that legislative action could be said to have proceeded per saltum. It bypassed the typical intermediate parliamentary steps.