A collateral attack, also called an indirect attack, is a challenge on the validity of a prior judgment through a new case rather than by a direct appeal. Examples include habeas corpus petitions and claims that a prior judgment was invalid...
civil procedure
collateral estoppel
Collateral estoppel is an important doctrine in the fields of criminal law and civil procedure.
In criminal law, collateral estoppel protects criminal defendants from being tried for the same issue in more than one criminal...
collateral order doctrine
The collateral order doctrine is an exception to the general rule against allowing interlocutory appeals (appeals on a temporary order issued during the course of litigation). This doctrine traces its origins to the case Cohen v. Beneficial...
collusive action
A collusive action is an action between two parties that are not true adversaries and have no true controversy between them. The two parties are nominal adversaries merely for the goal of obtaining an answer to a legal question or a favorable...
collusive suit
A collusive suit (also referred to as a friendly suit) is a lawsuit where the parties are not actually in disagreement but are cooperating to steer the court towards some agreed-upon conclusion. As seen in United States v. Johnson, collusive...
color
Color, in a legal sense, refers to the appearance of a thing, as distinguished from the thing itself.
For example, the color of law refers to the appearance of legal authority or an apparently legal right, and is often used to...color of law
Color of law refers to the appearance of legal authority or an apparently legal right that may not exist. The term is often used to describe the abuse of power under the guise of state authority, and is therefore illegal. The term was used in...
color of office
Color of office refers to a person acting as if they are in an official capacity as an employee of a governmental unit, but taking action that is not authorized. In other words, an office holder acts under the color of office when they take...
colorable claim
A colorable claim is a plausible legal claim. This means that the claim is “strong enough” to have a reasonable chance of being valid if the legal basis is generally correct and the facts can be proven in court. Note that the claim need not...
comity
Comity refers to courts of one state or jurisdiction respecting the laws and judicial decisions of other jurisdictions – whether state, federal or international – not as a matter of obligation but out of deference and mutual respect.
...