Majority opinion

Majority opinion

Legal opinions
Judicial opinions

Majority opinion
Dissenting opinion
Plurality opinion
Concurring opinion
Memorandum opinion
This box: view · law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision.

Not all cases have a majority opinion. At times, the justices voting for a majority decision (e.g., to affirm or reverse the lower court's decision) may have drastically different reasons for their votes, and cannot agree on the same set of reasons. In that situation, several concurring opinions may be written, none of which is actually the view of a majority of the members of the court. Therefore, the concurring opinion joined by the greatest number of judges is referred to as the plurality opinion.

Normally, appellate courts (or panels) are staffed with an odd number of judges to avoid a tie. Sometimes when judicial positions are vacant or a judge has recused himself or herself from the case, the court may be stuck with a tie, in which case the lower court's decision will be affirmed without comment by an equally divided court.

A majority opinion in countries which use the common law system becomes part of the body of case law.

Style

There is a key stylistic difference between the U.S. on the one hand, and the UK and other common law countries on the other. In the U.S., the disposition of an appeal in a majority opinion is usually drafted in the present tense, so that the disposition is itself a performative utterance. That is, a U.S. court will say that "we affirm (or reverse)" the lower court's decision, or, "the decision of the [lower court] is hereby affirmed (or reversed)." By saying so, the court actually does so.

In the UK and many other common law countries, the disposition in a majority opinion is phrased in the future tense. For example, the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom end a majority opinion by stating that "I would dismiss the appeal" or "I would allow the appeal," while the Justices of the High Court of Australia end a majority opinion by stating that "the appeal should be dismissed" or "the appeal should be allowed." This makes little sense from the American perspective, since the appeal has already occurred.

American dissenting and concurring opinions are sometimes partially drafted in the future tense, since they are speaking in terms of hypothetical situations that will not actually occur, as opposed to what the majority is actually doing in its opinion. However, even dissenting opinions may end in a present tense performative utterance, which is usually some variation on the phrase "I respectfully dissent."

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • majority opinion — see opinion Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • majority opinion — noun the opinion joined by a majority of the court (generally known simply as the opinion ) • Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence • Hypernyms: ↑opinion, ↑legal opinion, ↑judgment, ↑judgement …   Useful english dictionary

  • majority opinion — widespread opinion, opinion held by the majority; ruling made by more than half of the judges …   English contemporary dictionary

  • majority opinion — In effect the opinion of the court; an opinion prepared or approved by a majority of the judges sitting in the case. 20 Am J2d Cts § 71 …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • MAJORITY RULE — MAJORITY RULE, deciding a matter according to the majority opinion. In the field of the halakhah this rule is applied in three principal instances: (a) determination of the binding law according to (the view of) the majority of halakhic scholars; …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • opinion — opin·ion /ə pin yən/ n 1 a: a belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge b: a formal expression of a judgment or appraisal by an expert see also opinion testimony at testimony compare …   Law dictionary

  • majority — ma·jor·i·ty /mə jȯr ə tē/ n pl ties 1 a: legal age b: the status of one who has reached legal age 2 a: a number or quantity greater than half of a total compare plu …   Law dictionary

  • Majority report — may refer to: A Majority opinion, in judicial decisions which are not unanimous Majority report (Poor Law) The Majority Report, a US radio show This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an …   Wikipedia

  • opinion, concurring — n. An opinion written by a judge who is part of a panel of judges, agreeing with the conclusion of the majority opinion but not necessarily with the reasoning. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy… …   Law dictionary

  • opinion, dissenting — n. An opinion written by one of a panel of judges disagreeing with the majority opinion. The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008 …   Law dictionary

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