Etymology

court of cassation

Today it means: In several legal systems, the highest-level court of appeal in procedural matters, which is empowered to quash a verdict but then refers the case back for a new trial at the previous level. Full definition →

French cour de cassation
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. French · calque ofcour de cassation
  2. English todaycourt of cassation

Calque of French cour de cassation, from cour (“court”) + de (“of”) + cassation, from the verb casser (“to break”), indicating the power of such a court to quash the ruling of the court below.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.