personal judgment
1
7.1
- noun
- /ˈpɜrsənl ˈdʒʌdʒmənt/
- Formal
:
sentencia personal
Examples
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All the personal judgment and scapegoating of Mr. Mak that appears in this article and many of the responses to it doesn't amount to any useful critique.
Blog text (7) -
The court issued a personal judgment requiring the company to pay damages to the affected individuals.
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After reviewing the evidence, the judge made a personal judgment in favor of the plaintiff.
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In this case, the personal judgment led to a significant financial penalty for the defendant.
Synonyms
181
2.6
A formal decision given by a court in a legal case
A court decision that orders a particular person to pay money or do something
A written agreement where a person who owes money admits debt and a court can order payment without a trial
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'personal' (pertaining to a particular person) and 'judgment' (a court decision), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a court decision that applies to an individual. However, the specific legal nuance that a 'personal judgment' commonly denotes an order requiring payment of damages (as opposed to other types of judgments) is specialized and not fully predictable from everyday meanings, so it is only partly transparent.
Etymology
Personal judgment comes from the image of a judge writing a decision about a named person. The judge's judgment points to that personal defendant and orders them to 'pay money to another person', so the phrase now means a court decision that makes someone pay damages.