out of courtadv.adj.
/ˌaʊtəvˈkɔːt/, U.S. /ˌaʊdə(v)ˈkɔrt/ Law.
A. adv.
1. Outside court; before coming to court; without the intervention of a court.to settle out of court: see settle v. 33d.
ΚΠ
1836 Blackburn Standard 29 June 2/4 All those persons had been examined out of court.
1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. x. 290 The battle was waged out of Court with sword and matchlock.
1915 Amer. Econ. Rev. 5 286 When the parties will listen to reason and settle out of court, so much the better.
1954 Speculum 29 392 The villagers sometimes met out of court under their reeve for the purpose of drafting by-laws.
1992 D. Pannick Advocates iv. 100 When the barrister is advising out of court, the public policy factors which justify immunity from action for negligence have less force.
2. Of a plaintiff or their case: beyond the scope of a court's consideration. Chiefly in extended use: beyond serious consideration. to laugh out of court: to dismiss as absurd.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > testing > debate, disputation, argument > putting forward for discussion > [adjective] > not to be considered
out of court1846
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > party in litigation > between parties in litigation [phrase] > having forfeited claim to be heard
out of court1846
1846 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic (ed. 2) iii. xx. §2 The argument of analogy is put out of court.
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 478/2 Out of Court, a plaintiff in an action at common law must declare within one year after the service of a writ of summons, otherwise he is out of court.
1885 J. Bonar Malthus ii. i. 252 Though there is much truth still in many of his statements, the conclusion he draws from them..is quite out of court now.
1909 W. de la Mare Private View (1953) 198 Longfellow, Emerson, and hosts of lesser men he laughed out of court.
1912 J. S. Huxley Individual in Animal Kingdom i. 21 This..is alone enough to rule out of court the pretensions of all inorganic constellations to individuality.
1960 C. S. Lewis Stud. in Words iv. 89 A study of wit which does not take full account of its relation to ingenium would be out of court.
B. adj.
In form out-of-court. Not involving or relating to (a judgment in) a legal court; (spec. of a legal settlement, etc.) arrived at without the intervention of a court or before a case comes to court.
ΚΠ
1920 W. Z. Foster Great Steel Strike & its Lessons x. 184 Up to the present writing the Lackawanna Steel Company..has made out-of-court settlements to the extent of $22,500.
1939 Science 20 Jan. 12/1 It had made overtures to the Department of Justice for an out-of-court agreement.
1975 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 69 1205/2 (note) Upon capturing the major cities of China in 1949, the Communists established out-of-court mediation committees there.
1991 Economist (BNC) 30 Mar. 42 The lawsuit has been delayed since September, when the three states vowed to reach an out-of-court compromise.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.adj.1836