Court order - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An ancient court order dated 544 BC

A court order (or order) is a formal written direction by a member of the judiciary. It directs a party to do something.[1] It can also be an order not to do something, as in an injunction.[2]

An order can be as simple as setting a date for trial. They can also be complex involving many details. It may be a final order (one that concludes the court action), or an interim order (one during the action). Most orders are written, and are signed by the judge. Some orders, however, are spoken orally by the judge in open court, and are only reduced to writing in the transcript of the proceedings.

Examples[change | change source]

The following represents a small sampling of matters that are commonly dictated by the terms of a court order:

References[change | change source]

  1. "Court Order". The Free Dictionary/Farlex. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  2. Dictionary of Law, Second Edition, ed. Peter Hodgson Collin (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers; Middlesex: Peter Collin Publishing, Ltd., 1999), p. 61