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Glite Dictionary
next friend

next friend

1 9.9
A person who speaks for a child or someone who cannot act for themselves in court
  • noun
  • Formal
translation icon : representante legal
  • The child's next friend filed a petition in court to protect his rights during the legal proceedings.

Secondly, and this would defeat Whitmore right out of the out of the start, they said he couldn't be the next friend for Simmons.

Examples

  • As the next friend of her disabled brother, she took responsibility for making decisions on his behalf.

  • In this case, the court appointed a next friend to represent the interests of the infant during the trial.

  • Secondly, and this would defeat Whitmore right out of the out of the start, they said he couldn't be the next friend for Simmons.

    YaleCourses

  • Respondents, by and through their parents as next friends, then brought this suit in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

    Academic text (1990)

Synonyms

ad prosequendum
vsnext friend
  • Formal
9.9

A person a court chooses to sue for someone who cannot act for themselves

represents someone unable to appear in court more broadly, not only prosecuting cases

Surface Forms

next friend singular
next friends plural

Morphology

next + friend

The constituents 'next' and 'friend' yield an interpretable idea of a person who is beside or supporting someone, so a learner might guess a supportive companion. However, the specific legal sense — a court-appointed representative for someone unable to appear — is specialized and not fully predictable from everyday meanings, making the phrase only partially transparent.

Etymology

The legal term next friend comes from the simple picture of someone standing next to a person who cannot go to court and acting as their friend to speak for them. That's why a next friend 'represents' someone 'on their behalf'.