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question of fact

question of fact

2 6.7
An issue about what really happened for a jury or judge to decide
  • noun
  • Formal
translation icon : cuestión de hecho
  • So, the question of fact is: has responsibility been understood as intrinsic to the moral category of human rights?
  • question of fact for the jury

But the semantic question would then be when we ask that question, are we even asking a question of fact at all?

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Examples

  • Whether an accommodation is reasonable and necessary is a question of fact determined on a case-by-case basis.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Reasonable accommodations for a person with a mental disability are ordinarily a question of fact and may include modifications to police activities, policies, and training.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Very good, but first, you understand, there are certain questions of fact.

  • It's a simple question of fact.

  • So keep in mind that the key question here is, was there a genuine question of fact that should have gone before our jury?

  • Furthermore, not all questions of fact are simple.

    Academic text (1999)
  • When thinking about a situation, advocates must carefully separate questions of fact from value judgments.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Clearly, these conflicting interpretations of the past are not simply questions of fact, resolvable by more historical research.

    Academic text (1992)
  • The determination of whether an employee was acting within the scope of employment is a question of fact to be determined by the trier of fact based upon the circumstances of each case.

    Blog text (21)
  • The jury must determine if there is a genuine question of fact regarding the defendant's actions.

Synonyms

matter of fact
vsquestion of fact
  • Formal
720 6.6

A question about what really happened that the jury must decide

is the specific legal label used in court and case law

Surface Forms

Morphology

question + of + fact

The meaning 'an issue concerning a factual dispute' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'question' (an issue) with 'fact' (a verifiable truth) in the common noun + of + noun structure. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the core meaning, though the precise legal distinction from a 'question of law' is a domain-specific nuance.

Etymology

Question of fact comes from how courts work: it is the question about what actually happened—the fact—that people such as a jury must look at the evidence to decide. That's why it means an issue about real events for a jury or judge to decide, not a 'question of law'.