discretion Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (4 ed.)
... discretion discretion is the better part of valour it’s better to avoid a dangerous situation than to confront it. proverb ...
discretion Quick reference
A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (2 ed.)
... The power, held by police officers as holders of the office of constable , to decide whether and how, within legal bounds, they enforce the law. The part of discretion most often used is the power not to take action. Other professionals in the criminal justice system also have the power of discretion in the performance of their professional roles. In particular, prosecutors have the discretion not to initiate or continue with proceedings if it is not in the public interest to prosecute. See also judicial discretion...
discretion Quick reference
A Dictionary of Economics (5 ed.)
...discretion When a policy can evolve over time in response to new information. The converse is pre-commitment where a policy rule is set at the outset and cannot be revised. The literature on ‘rules versus discretion’ investigates which of these forms of policy is preferable. Discretion is related to the closed-loop equilibrium in policy...
discretion Reference library
The Handbook of International Financial Terms
... . An order giving the broker the authority to use his judgement in executing an instruction ( cf. market-not-held order...
discretion (local authority) Quick reference
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care (2 ed.)
... ( local authority ) Local authorities can exercise judgement and make choices about how they implement their statutory duties , and this has implications for social workers; for example, in relation to policies and procedures when an assessment is made of an adult’s care and support needs under the Care Act ( 2014 ) ( see needs assessment ). Local authorities have to have policies that are flexible enough to make decisions in relation to an individual’s circumstances but discretion cannot be exercised too loosely; a local authority cannot...
discretion Reference library
The New Oxford Companion to Law
... We tend to think of law as a structure of authoritative rules intended to affect behaviour. But legal rules must be translated into action, involving processes of interpretation and choice in the exercise of discretion. Discretion is all‐pervasive in legal systems. The meaning and relevance of rules must be defined, and facts need interpreting. This also means characterizing the present problem and judging whether it is addressed by the rule. The significance of discretion is that the everyday decision‐making of judges , public officials, lawyers, and...
discretion Quick reference
Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins (3 ed.)
...discretion [ME] In Latin discretio developed from ‘separation’ to ‘fine judgement’, an ability to separate ideas, the sense in which it entered English from French in the Middle Ages. The proverb discretion is the better part of valour was familiar in Shakespeare’s time. The idea is even older, having a parallel in the works of the Greek dramatist Euripides in the 5th century bc : ‘Forethought, this too is...
discretion (social workers) Quick reference
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care (2 ed.)
... Lipsky ( 1940 –) sees the work of street-level bureaucrats (front-line workers) as happening in services in which discretion is necessary to meet a variety of human needs; discretion is necessary simply to do the job. However, the vague, ambitious, and often contradictory goals of street-level bureaucracies create another area of discretion: the space in which to translate nebulous policy into practice. Finally, Lipsky recognized the discretion street-level bureaucrats themselves have to create space to advance their own values, interests, and needs. See...
discretion Reference library
Australian Law Dictionary (3 ed.)
...discretion The power, particularly of a judge ( see judicial discretion ) or the trustee of a discretionary trust , to make a choice or decide a question autonomously, in the absence of determinate rules, using judgment rather than rules. A discretion may be facultative or mandatory (imperative): see discretionary power . See also unfettered discretion...
judicial discretion Quick reference
A Dictionary of Law (10 ed.)
...discretion The power of the court to take some step, grant a remedy, or admit evidence or not as it thinks fit. Many rules of procedure and evidence are in discretionary form or provide for some element of discretion. In criminal cases, under section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the court may exclude prosecution evidence if its admission would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it. The Court of Appeal is normally reluctant to review the exercise of discretion by trial...
judicial discretion Quick reference
A Dictionary of Law Enforcement (2 ed.)
...discretion The power of the court to take some step, grant a remedy, or admit evidence or not as it thinks fit. Many rules of procedure and evidence are in discretionary form or provide for some element of discretion. In criminal cases, under s 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 , the court may exclude prosecution evidence if its admission would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it. The Court of Appeal is reluctant to review the exercise of discretion by trial judges...
fettering discretion (local authority) Quick reference
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care (2 ed.)
...be provided, fetters the discretion of a decision-maker such as a social worker or team manager, because the policy makes up their mind in advance, not allowing their exercise of discretion. Such a rigid policy may cause unfairness in individual cases and as a consequence is vulnerable to legal challenge through judicial review . General policies, priorities, and eligibility criteria have to leave sufficient room for the carrying out of an assessment that is capable of taking account of an individual’s needs . See also discretion (local authority) ; ...
judicial discretion Reference library
Australian Law Dictionary (3 ed.)
...judicial discretion The ability of a judge to exercise autonomy in making decisions in the absence of determinate rules, using individual judgment or assessment to arrive at a just and fair result. However, the judicial nature of the exercise means that discretion is not a matter of personal conscience or inclination. A statute may delineate the scope of decision-making discretion, but wherever it is unclear whether or not some rule applies, perhaps because the meaning of a word is unclear in a particular context (the penumbra of doubt ), a values-based...
unfettered discretion Reference library
Australian Law Dictionary (3 ed.)
...unfettered discretion The ordinary meaning of the term ‘unfettered’ is ‘fully unrestricted’, with no constraints. However, courts equally have a discretion to decline to interfere. They generally will not interfere in discretionary judgments made by a court below unless error is demonstrated. In addition to error of fact and error of law there is a ‘ residual category ’ in which the error need not be sharply defined. It is enough if it seems there must be a false supposition at work in the decision: ‘It is not necessary that you should be sure of the...
fractional discretion order (USA) Reference library
The Handbook of International Financial Terms
...discretion order (USA) . An instruction that tells the broker the amount of discretion on the price ( cf. discretionary order...
discretion, at your Reference library
Garner's Modern English Usage (5 ed.)
..., at your . Although in your discretion was more common through most of the 1800s, at your discretion became the top choice in the 1900s. Since about 1970 it has predominated, and it’s about five times as common today. Remember, though, that in the choice of this preposition, you still have full discretion. ...
margin of discretion Reference library
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (3 ed.)
...of discretion Meaning substantially the same as margin of appreciation , this term is used outside the context of the European Convention of Human Rights, indicating some latitude available to international and municipal decision-makers in the application of particular international legal...
rules versus discretion Quick reference
A Dictionary of Finance and Banking (6 ed.)
...versus discretion The debate as to whether monetary policy is best conducted according to the discretion of the monetary authority (government or central bank) or according to a fixed set of preannounced rules. Proponents of a rules-based approach argue that anti-inflationary policy will lack credibility unless economic agents know that certain rules (e.g. regarding the setting of interest rates) will be applied mechanically, regardless of other pressures ( see inflationary bias ). Others argue that the monetary authority must retain flexibility in...
discretion Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
... age of discretion the age at which one is considered fit to manage one's affairs or take responsibility for one's actions; the phrase is recorded from the mid 19th century. discretion is the better part of valour often used to explain caution, and sometimes with allusion to Shakespeare's 1 Henry IV ( 1597 ), ‘The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part, I have saved my life.’ The saying is recorded from the late 16th century, and a similar thought is found in classical Greek, in The Suppliants of Euripides, ‘and bravery...
discretion Quick reference
New Oxford Rhyming Dictionary (2 ed.)
... • ashen , fashion, passion, ration • abstraction , action, attraction, benefaction, compaction, contraction, counteraction, diffraction, enaction, exaction, extraction, faction, fraction, interaction, liquefaction, malefaction, petrifaction, proaction, protraction, putrefaction, redaction, retroaction, satisfaction, stupefaction, subtraction, traction, transaction, tumefaction, vitrifaction • expansion , mansion, scansion, stanchion • sanction • caption , contraption • harshen , Martian • cession , discretion, freshen, session • ...
