General (not jurisdiction-specific)

The obligation to prove a fact or claim to the required standard.

An order issued during a case, after notice, to preserve the situation until the case is decided.

The usual standard of proof in civil cases: the fact is more likely true than not.

A court order requiring a party to do or stop doing something.

The decision of a jury on the questions submitted to it. A jury may return a general verdict, a special verdict answering specific questions of fact (Fed. R. Civ. P. 49(a)), or a general verdict with answers to written questions (Fed. R. Civ. P. 49(b)). In federal civil cases, unless the parties stipulate otherwise, the verdict must be unanimous (Fed. R. Civ. P. 48(b)). In a criminal case, the Sixth Amendment requires a unanimous verdict to convict of a serious offense (Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. 83 (2020)).

Harm that money damages cannot adequately fix after the fact. For example, courts often treat the loss of a unique property, a business’s goodwill or a constitutional right as irreparable. As a result, a party asking for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction usually must show that it will likely suffer irreparable harm without one.

The court’s final decision determining the rights of the parties.

Has several meanings. In court, a bond is security posted to protect another party or the court — for example, security the court requires before issuing a preliminary injunction or TRO (Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(c)), a bond to stay enforcement of a judgment, often while an appeal is pending (Fed. R. Civ. P. 62(b)), or a bail bond in a criminal case. In construction, surety bonds such as bid, payment and performance bonds guarantee a contractor’s obligations. In finance, a bond is a debt security issued by a government or company.

A judgment that ends the litigation on the merits and leaves nothing for the court to do but execute it. Most appeals can be taken only from final judgments.

Money awarded to compensate for a loss or injury.