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Glite Dictionary
sub judice

sub judice

9.9
Being considered by a judge or court and not open to public discussion
  • adjective
  • /sʌb ˈdʒuːdɪs/
  • Jargon
translation icon : sub judice
  • Due to the sub judice status of the trial, the media were instructed to refrain from making any comments.

Examples

  • As the legal proceedings are sub judice, the involved parties must maintain confidentiality regarding the case.

  • I have here a High Court order of sub judice that forbids further testimony of this witness.

    The Forgiven (2018)

  • I have, however, turned this matter over to my attorneys, and as it is currently sub judice, I shall have nothing further to say about it.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The court issued a statement, clarifying that the case is still sub judice and cannot be discussed publicly.

Antonyms

public
∞ 1.0

Open or available to everyone, not private

Surface Forms

sub judice positive

Morphology

sub + judice

The phrase is compositionally analyzable as Latin sub ('under') + judice (related to judge/judgment), so a basic sense of being 'under judgment' can be inferred. However, it is a technical legal Latinism with a specific procedural nuance (prohibition on public discussion) and uses non‑English lexical items that are unlikely to be known or fully interpreted by a B1 learner, so the meaning is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Sub judice comes from old law words: sub means 'under' and judice refers to a 'judge'. The picture is a case being literally 'under' the judge's control, so people should not talk about it in public. That's why today it means 'under consideration by a judge' and not for public discussion.