"Abstract of judgment" is a written

summary may refer to: * Abstract (summary), shortening a passage or a write-up without changing its meaning but by using different words and sentences * Epitome, a summary or miniature form * Abridgement, the act of reducing a written work into a shor ...

of a

judgment Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of given circumstances to make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. In an informal context, a judgement is opinion expressed as fact. In the context of a legal trial ...

which states how much money the losing

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

owes to the person who won the lawsuit (judgment

creditor A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some propert ...

), the

rate of interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct ...

to be paid on the judgment amount, court costs, and any specific orders that the losing defendant (

judgment debtor In English law, English and Law of the United States, American law, a judgment debtor is a person against whom a judgment ordering him to pay a sum of money has been obtained and remains unsatisfied. Such a person may be examined as to their assets ...

) must obey, which abstract is acknowledged and stamped so that it can be recorded and made official with the government. The purpose of an abstract of judgment is to create a

public record Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential and generally pertain to the conduct of government. Depending on jurisdiction, examples of public records includes information pertaining to births, deat ...

and create a

lien A lien ( or ) is a form of security interest granted over an item of property to secure the payment of a debt or performance of some other obligation. The owner of the property, who grants the lien, is referred to as the ''lienee'' and the pers ...

claim Claim may refer to: * Claim (legal) * Claim of Right Act 1689 * Claims-based identity * Claim (philosophy) * Land claim * A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law * Patent claim * The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton * A ri ...

if necessary on any real estate property owned or later acquired by the defendant located in the county in which the abstract of judgment is recorded. If the loser does not pay the judgment voluntarily then the winner can force a

sheriff's sale A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

of any property to collect. There are several problems: 1) to find the county where the loser owns real estate property; 2) the probability that there are secured loans,

tax liens A tax lien is a lien which is imposed upon a property by law in order to secure the payment of taxes. A tax lien may be imposed for the purpose of collecting delinquent taxes which are owed on real property or personal property, or it may be im ...

and/or other judgments that have priority over the judgment lien; 3) the possibility that the loser/debtor may go

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

and avoid paying the debt.

United Kingdom

An abstract is a brief summary of a judicial

, usually written by a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

for publication in

law reports A or is a compilation of judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. These reports serve as published records of judicial decisions that are cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedent in subsequent cases. Hi ...

. Abstracts are of particular use in

legal research Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a prob ...

because they condense the essential points of long, complex judgments into a few paragraphs. A researcher can use abstracts to investigate how relevant a particular case is to the issue at hand, and hence to decide whether he or she should go on to read the entire judgment.

United States

The term "abstract of judgment" may be used in a generic sense to describe a condensed summary of a court case, but it is chiefly used in a technical sense to describe a document produced by a court which describes the judgment rendered in a case.

Criminal law

An abstract of judgment is a clerical document containing a summary of court proceedings which may be useful though not conclusive in proving a prior

conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

for the purposes of enhancement. ''United States v. Gutierrez-Ramirez'', 405 F.3d 352, 357 - 58 (5th Cir. 2005) (finding a sentencing court could not rely on an abstract of judgment to determine whether a prior conviction qualifies to enhance a sentence); ''United States v. Navidad-Marcos'', 367 F.3d 903, 908 - 09 (9th Cir. 2004) (holding an abstract of judgment did not "unequivocally" establish that a defendant entered a guilty plea); ''see also United States. v. Price'', 366 U.S. App. D.C. 166, 409 F.3d 436, 445 (D.C. Cir. 2005). In California, an abstract of judgment is a document transmitted by a

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

to a county

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

after entry of a judgment of conviction in a criminal action.
People v. Buckhalter
'' 26 Cal. 4th 20, 108 Cal. Rptr. 2d 625, 25 P.3d 1103 (2001). The abstract summarizes the crimes of which the defendant was convicted, and all sentences and enhancements imposed for those crimes (including whether those various sentencing components are to run concurrently or consecutively to one another).

Judicial Council of California The Judicial Council of California is the rule-making arm of the California court system. In accordance with the California Constitution and under the leadership of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, the council is responsible ...

Form CR-290, Felony Abstract of Judgment—Determinate
(July 1, 2012). It also summarizes presentencing credits earned by the defendant for time served in the

county jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

while awaiting trial and sentencing. Receipt of an abstract of judgment triggers the sheriff's obligation to promptly deliver the prisoner and the abstract of judgment to the custody of the secretary of the

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is the penal law enforcement agency of the government of California responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. Its headquarters are in Sacra ...

(CDCR) (formerly, the director of the Department of Corrections) at a designated

state prison State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. During the inmate reception and classification process, a CDCR analyst uses the abstract of judgment to compute the number of days which must be actually served by the prisoner in CDCR custody, and then a separate in-custody credit scheme is applied by CDCR from that point forward (e.g., good conduct credit) to further reduce the prisoner's sentence. Thus, the accuracy of one's abstract of judgment is of great importance to convicts held in CDCR custody, since errors in the calculation of their original total sentence on the abstract can unnecessarily lengthen their time in the state prison system.

Property law

In some states, such as

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, an abstract of judgment is a specific type of document provided either by the

court clerk A court clerk (British English: clerk to the court or clerk of the court ; American English: clerk of the court or clerk of court ) is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining records of a court and administering oaths ...

or by an attorney which is used to prove that a judgment has been rendered. The abstract may then be filed in another jurisdiction, where it constitutes notice of a "judgment

" on the

debtor A debtor or debitor is a legal entity (legal person) that owes a debt to another entity. The entity may be an individual, a firm, a government, a company or other legal person. The counterparty is called a creditor. When the counterpart of this ...

real property In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, refers to parcels of land and any associated structures which are the property of a person. For a structure (also called an Land i ...

, thereby preventing the transfer of that property until the judgment has been paid. This process was described by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

in 1987: :''See'' Tex. Prop. Code Ann. § 52.002 (1984) (directing clerk to issue an abstract of the judgment "on application of a person in whose favor a judgment is rendered"; no exception for superseded judgments); ''Thulemeyer v. Jones,'' 37 Tex. 560, 571 (1872). The bond's only effect would be to prevent Pennzoil from executing the judgment and obtaining Texaco's property. ''Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, Inc''., 481 U.S. 1, 5 (U.S. 1987)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abstract Of Judgment Judgment (law) Common law