memorandum of understanding

plural memoranda of understanding · plural memorandums of understanding · abbreviation MoU · abbreviation MOU

1. lawA document that outlines the legal and factual premises believed by the parties to have been agreed to between them.

   Memorandum of understanding between Long & Byrne and George T. Jenkins for the year eighteen hundred and fifty (1850).

   1856, Maryland Court of Appeals Reports Vol 8, December 1855, page 141

   4 more examples

   Immediately after the passage of the act a general memorandum of understanding was prepared and submitted to the States.

   1925, Report of the National Conference on Utilization of Forest Products, page 7

   On the question of whether a memorandum of understanding is legally binding, British courts have held that this is determined by the presence (or, as the case may be, absence) of an intention to create a legal obligation, on the part of the states parties concerned, at the time of entry into the arrangement.

   2012, Dinah Shelton, International Law and Domestic Legal Systems, page 624

   The memorandum of understanding between the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, the Office of Rail and Road and the police states: "In the absence of a clear indication that serious criminality has caused the accident, RAIB will normally have precedence in respect of the investigation and will assume lead responsibility for the investigation."

   2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 63

   The announcement did not include any information about when the negotiations might now begin, raising immediate questions about the memorandum of understanding that President Trump and Iran’s president had signed earlier this week.

   2026 June 19, Jim Tankersley, “Swiss Officials Say Iran Talks Are Off, for Now”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: memorandum of agreement