Sanctions, in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and legal definition, are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the

, or with rules and

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

s. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular acti ...

, such as

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

incarceration Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

, or severe

fines Fines may refer to: * Fines, Andalusia, Spanish municipality * Fine (penalty) * Fine, a dated term for a premium on a lease of land, a large sum the tenant pays to commute (lessen) the rent throughout the term *Fines, ore or other products with a s ...

. Within the context of civil law, sanctions are usually monetary fines, levied against a party to a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

or their attorney, for violating rules of procedure, or for abusing the

judicial process Legal process (sometimes simply process) is any formal notice or writ by a court obtaining jurisdiction over a person or property. Common forms of process include a summons, subpoena, mandate, and warrant. Process normally takes effect by ...

. The most severe sanction in a civil lawsuit is the

involuntary dismissal Involuntary dismissal is the termination of a court case despite the plaintiff's objection. In United States federal courts, involuntary dismissal is governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) Rule 41(b). Involuntary dismissal is made ...

with prejudice Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings. ...

, of a complaining party's

cause of action A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a p ...

, or of the responding party's answer. This has the effect of deciding the entire action against the sanctioned party without recourse, except to the degree that an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

or trial ''de novo'' may be allowed because of

reversible error In United States law, a reversible error is an error of sufficient gravity to warrant reversal of a judgment on appeal. It is an error by the trier of law (judge), or the trier of fact (the jury, or the judge if it is a bench trial), or malfeasa ...

. As a noun, the term is usually used in the plural form, even if it only refers to a single event: if a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

fines a party, it is not said that they imposed a sanction, but that they imposed sanctions. A judge may sanction a party during a legal proceeding, by which it is implied that they impose penalties. In the

United States federal court system The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution and Law of the United States, laws of the fed ...

, certain types of conduct are sanctionable under Rule 11 of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling ...

. Conversely and sometimes confusingly, the word may be used to imply "approve of," especially in an official sense. "The law sanctions such behavior" would imply that the behavior spoken of enjoys the specific approval of law. To sanction implies make a legal agreement. The word is derived from sanctus, to make holy. A legal agreement or sanction imposes approvals, rules, guidelines and penalties on conduct.

References

Bibliography

* Herbert L. A. Hart, ''The Concept of Law'', Oxford University Press, London, 1961; * Gerd Spittler, ''Norm und Sanktion. Untersuchungen zum Sanktionsmechanismus'', Walter, Olten-Freiburg, 1967; *

Norberto Bobbio Norberto Bobbio (; 18 October 1909 – 9 January 2004) was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily ''La Stampa''. Bobbio was a social libera ...

, ''Sanzione'', Novissimo Digesto, UTET, Torino, XVI, Torino, 1969, 530-540; *

Niklas Luhmann Niklas Luhmann (; ; December 8, 1927 – November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist, philosopher of social science, and a prominent thinker in systems theory. Biography Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Free State of Prussia, where his father's fa ...

, ''Rechtssoziologie'', Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1972; *

Ota Weinberger OTA or ota may stand for: Art, entertainment, and media * '' Off the Air'', an Adult Swim television series * Otakon, an annual anime convention in Baltimore, Maryland Electronics, science, and technology * Ochratoxin A (also termed OTA), a myco ...

, ''Der Sanktionsbegriff und die pragmatische Auswirkung gesellschaftlicher Normen'', in H. Lenk, Hrsg., Normenlogik, Verlag Dokumentation, Pullach bei München, 1974, 89-111; *

Lawrence M. Friedman Lawrence Meir Friedman (born April 2, 1930) is an American Legal education, law professor, historian of American legal history, and author of nonfiction and fiction books. He has been a member of the faculty at Stanford Law School since 1968. Bi ...

, ''The Legal System. A Social Science Perspective'', Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 1975; * Norberto Bobbio, ''Dalla struttura alla funzione. Nuovi studi di teoria del diritto'', Comunità, Milano, 1977; *

Vilhelm Aubert Johan Vilhelm Aubert (7 June 1922 – 19 July 1988) was an influential Norwegian sociologist. He was a professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo from 1963 to 1971 and at the Department of Sociology from 1971 to 1988. He co-founded ...

, ''On Sanctions'', in “European Yearbook in Law and Sociology”, 1977, 1-19; * H. Kelsen, ''Allgemeine Theorie der Normen'', Manzsche Verlags- und Universitätsbuchhandlung, Wien, 1979; * F. D’Agnostino, ''Sanzione'', "Enciclopedia del diritto", XLI, Giuffrè, Milano, 1989, 303-328; * Ota Weinbeger, ''Rechtslogik'', Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1989; * Charles-Albert Morand, ''Sanction'', “Archives de Philosophie du droit”, XXXV, 1990, 293-312; * Heike Jung, ''Sanktionensysteme und Menschenrechte'', Haupt, Bern-Stuttgart-Wien, 1992; * Juan Carlos Bayon, ''Sanction'', Dictionnaire encyclopédique de théorie et de sociologie du droit, L.G.D.J., Paris, 1993, 536-540; * Realino Marra, ''Sanzione'', "Digesto delle discipline privatistiche. Sezione civile", UTET, Torino, XVIII, 1998, 153-61. {{Authority control Judiciaries Legal procedure Punishments