judgment on the merits
- noun
- /ˈdʒʌdʒmənt ɒn ðə ˈmɛrɪts/
- Formal
:
sentencia sobre el fondo
- After hearing all the arguments, the tribunal reached a judgment on the merits that favored the plaintiff's claims.
Examples
-
To ensure fairness, the panel needs to make a well-considered judgment on the merits based on the actual facts of the case.
-
No court has passed judgment on the merits of this claimed expertise.
Academic text (1998) -
Under the new legislation, a three-person claims commission would review legal briefs and other evidence presented by tribes and make binding judgments on the merits of each case.
Academic text (1991) -
The judge will issue a formal judgment on the merits after evaluating all the evidence presented in court.
Synonyms
632
1.6
A decision made after thinking about the facts
96
4.0
An official decision made after careful thought
55
3.3
A court judgment that ends a case and must be followed
7
5.6
A court decision that ends a case and only needs to be carried out
2
5.7
A ruling by a court about a legal case
How Thorough
- Formal
14
3.4
- Formal
7
6.9
- Specialized
21
7.4
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'judgment on the merits' is compositionally built from 'judgment' (a decision) and 'on the merits' (concerning the substantive worth or real issues), so the overall meaning — a decision based on the actual facts and legal issues rather than procedures — is directly derivable from the constituents. Although somewhat formal/legal in register, this logic is cross-linguistically common and a B1 learner who knows the component words should be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The legal phrase judgment on the merits comes from the simple idea that merits are the case's true worth or main points. So a judgment on the merits is a court decision that looks at the 'real facts and law', not just a small 'technicality'.