Non ultra petita

In law, the principle of non ultra petita, meaning "not beyond the request" in Latin, means that a court may not decide more than it has been asked to.^[1] In particular, the court may not award more to the winning party than it requested.^[2] The Latin brocard Ne eat iudex ultra petita partium aut breviter ne ultra petita, often abbreviated to ne ultra petita, expresses the same principle.

The principle is a traditional basis of the rules of procedure governing civil and administrative litigation in Continental legal systems, as well as in public international law.^[1][2] In contrast, it does not apply in criminal proceedings.

It is closely related to the disposition principle (also called "principle of party disposition"), also a traditional feature of Continental legal systems, which states that in civil and administrative cases, the parties are free to dispose of their claims – advancing, withholding or withdrawing them as they see fit – and may thereby control the course of the litigation.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Mavroidis, Petros C. (2000). "Remedies in the WTO Legal System: Between a Rock and a Hard Place". European Journal of International Law 11 (4). http://207.57.19.226/journal/Vol11/No4/art1-02.html. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Ronen, Yaėl (2006). The Law and Practice of the International Court, 1920-2005: The court and the United Nations. BRILL. pp. 576. ISBN 9789004150195. http://books.google.com/books?id=NaOvnvmN7YgC&pg=PA576.