Under United States legal practice, a memorandum opinion is usually unpublished and cannot be cited as precedent. It is formally defined as: "
unanimous appellate opinion that succinctly states the decision of the court; an opinion that briefly reports the court's conclusion, usu. without elaboration because the decision follows a well-established legal principle or does not relate to any point of law."
Generally, memorandum opinions follow ordinary rules, including the application of
precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
and the rule of ''
stare decisis
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
''. However, in many courts (for example, the
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York
The Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court of the State of New York are the intermediate appellate courts in New York State.
There are four Appellate Divisions, one in each of the state's four Judicial Departments (e.g., the full title of the ...
), the style of analysis in memorandum opinions is much more concise and conclusory than it would be in an opinion intended for publication. That is, long strings of case citations are often inserted without explication or analysis of the applicability of the cited cases. In contrast, the
California Constitution
The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original co ...
requires that all appellate decisions in California must be decided "in writing with reasons stated," which the Supreme Court of California has interpreted as requiring detailed written opinions even in frivolous cases. Nonetheless, the Courts of Appeal have the discretion to certify opinions in frivolous cases for publication.
[''Schmier v. Supreme Court'']
78 Cal. App. 4th 703
(2000).
Memorandum opinions are often issued in areas of well-settled law or where a particular set of facts may create imprudent case law.
See also
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Published opinion Non-publication of legal opinions is the practice of a court issuing unpublished opinions. An unpublished opinion is a decision of a court that is not available for citation as precedent because the court deems the case to have insufficient precede ...
*
Legal opinion
In law, a legal opinion is in certain jurisdictions a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling.
Opinions are in those jurisdic ...
References
Opinion
An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements.
Definition
A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with f ...
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