1) n. a written legal argument, usually in a format prescribed by the courts, stating
the legal reasons for the suit based on statutes, regulations, case precedents,
legal texts, and reasoning applied to facts in the particular situation. A brief
is submitted to lay out the argument for various petitions and motions before the
court (sometimes called "points and authorities"), to counter the arguments of opposing
lawyers, and to provide the judge or judges with reasons to rule in favor of the
party represented by the brief writer. Occasionally on minor or follow-up legal
issues, the judge will specify that a letter or memorandum brief will be sufficient.
On appeals and certain other major arguments, the brief is bound with color-coded
covers stipulated in state and/or federal court rules. Ironically, although the
term was originally intended to mean a brief or summary argument (shorter than an
oral presentation), legal briefs are quite often notoriously long. 2) v. to summarize
a precedent case or lay out in writing a legal argument. Attentive law students
"brief" each case in their casebooks, which means extracting the rule of law, the
reasoning (rationale), the essential facts, and the outcome. 3) v. to give a summary
of important information to another person.
law dictionary, legal
dictionary, online law dictionary, legal terms dictionary,
online legal dictionary, legal definition, legal
terms and definition, Best online Dictionary, Law
Dictionary Software, Download Law Dictionary, law
dictionary, legal dictionary, online law dictionary,
legal terms dictionary, online legal dictionary,
legal definition, legal terms and definition, Best
online Dictionary, Law Dictionary Software, Download
Law Dictionary
