sua sponte

[soo-uh spon-tee, -tey]

adverb

Law.

1. (used by a judge or court to indicate that a motion is coming from the court itself and was not introduced or prompted by either party to the judicial matter.)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sua sponte¹

First recorded in 1805–15; from Latin: “by one's free will”; suicide ( def. ), spontaneous ( def. )

Example Sentences

Worse yet, the Court seemingly moves the goalposts with each new case it takes, most recently by sua sponte discarding a test that was uniformly embraced by courts across the country and replacing it with a harsh ‘history-and-tradition’ test no one asked for.

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Even without this complaint, the Grievance Committee could also act sua sponte where infamous criminal notoriety might instead suffice, as may have been the case when it disbarred Michael Cohen.

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All the civilian female defense attorneys wore Islamic headdresses when their clients were present—not at the request of their clients, nor for religious reasons, but sua sponte, to build trust.

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Because of the very conflicts outlined above, neither President Trump nor Attorney General Jeff Sessions appear likely to commission a special counsel, let alone do so sua sponte.

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Privacy Policy Sua sponte: Hereto within, both for consideration and exemplification in abeyance subject to adjudication pro se and terms whereto superseding justifies the underscore until res judicata thuslyrelieving ALL satisfactions.

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