In short. Latin is the oldest trick in the law for making a simple thing sound unanswerable. None of these terms is difficult once it is said in plain words, and a decision made about you should never turn on language you were not meant to follow. The duty of good faith in section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 is meant to be active, constructive, and communicative; jargon used to shut a worker out runs against the whole spirit of it. This is a working glossary of the Latin you will actually meet, grouped by the job it does.
The terms below are the ones that turn up in employment decisions, in Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) reviews, in the determinations of the Employment Relations Authority, and in the rules of an incorporated society. It is deliberately not a complete dictionary of legal Latin — the ecclesiastical and old civil-law terms that fill the longer lists almost never appear in a New Zealand statutory dispute, so they are left out. Each entry gives the literal translation and then what the term actually does when it is used against you or for you. Where a term connects to a fuller treatment elsewhere in the hub, the entry links to it.
These are the maxims that carry the principles of a fair hearing. They sit underneath every other article in this hub, and two of them have their own dedicated pages.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| audi alteram partem | hear the other side | The decision-maker must hear you before deciding against you. You are entitled to know the case and to answer it. This is the principle behind The Right to Be Heard. |
| nemo iudex in causa sua | no one a judge in their own cause | No one may decide a matter in which they have an interest or a closed mind. The bias need only be apparent, not proven actual. This is the principle behind The Rule Against Bias. |
| ubi jus ibi remedium | where there is a right, there is a remedy | If the law gives you a right, it must also give you a way to enforce it. A right with no remedy is not a right at all. |
| contra proferentem | against the one putting it forward | An ambiguous term in an agreement is read against the party who drafted it. In an employment agreement, that is usually the employer. |
| de minimis non curat lex | the law does not concern itself with trifles | The law will not act on something genuinely trivial. Often invoked by the stronger party to dismiss a complaint — the question is always whether the thing really is trivial, or only said to be. |
| ex parte | from one side | A step taken with only one party present. Sometimes necessary and urgent, but a decision reached entirely ex parte sits in tension with the right to be heard. |
The language of promises, dealing, and bargaining. Good faith is not a Latin import — it is written into section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 in plain English — but its Latin relatives still appear constantly.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| bona fide | in good faith | Sincerely, honestly, without a hidden agenda. A bona fide redundancy is a genuine one; a redundancy that is really a disguised dismissal is not. |
| mala fide | in bad faith | The opposite. Acting dishonestly or for an improper purpose while dressing it up as something proper. |
| uberrima fides | utmost good faith | A heightened duty of complete candour, classically in insurance. Relevant where one side holds all the information and the other must rely on it. |
| ex gratia | as a favour | A payment or act offered voluntarily, with no admission of liability. An ex gratia offer is not the same as recognising you were owed something. |
| quid pro quo | this for that | An exchange of one thing for another. In a harassment context, a demand that something be given in return for keeping a job or an entitlement. |
| consensus ad idem | agreement to the same thing | A genuine meeting of minds. Without it, there is no real agreement, however many signatures sit on the page. |
| nudum pactum | a bare promise | A promise with nothing given for it, and so generally unenforceable as a contract. A promise of a benefit you gave nothing up for may be a nudum pactum. |
The vocabulary of how a ruling is built and how far it binds. The most important entry here for a worker is de novo, because it names the actual route to challenge a determination of the Employment Relations Authority.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| de novo | anew | Heard afresh, from the start. The route to challenge a determination of the Employment Relations Authority is a hearing de novo in the Employment Court under section 179 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 — not judicial review. See What Judicial Review Actually Is for the difference. |
| ratio decidendi | the reason for the decision | The part of a judgment that actually binds: the legal reasoning essential to the result. When a case is cited at you, the ratio is what counts. |
| obiter dictum | said in passing | A remark in a judgment that was not essential to the decision. Persuasive, but it does not bind. Often quoted as if it did. |
| stare decisis | to stand by things decided | The principle that like cases are decided alike and lower bodies follow higher courts. It is what makes precedent more than opinion. |
| per curiam | by the court | A decision given by the court as a whole, with no single author named. |
| res judicata | a matter already judged | A matter finally decided between the same parties cannot be litigated again. It protects a result; it does not protect a wrong process from challenge by the proper route. |
| functus officio | having discharged its office | A decision-maker whose task is finished and who has no power left to revisit it. Useful when a body tries to reopen something it has already concluded. |
| sub judice | under judicial consideration | A matter currently before a court or tribunal, and so not to be prejudged or publicly pronounced upon as if already decided. |
The terms that decide who has to prove what, and who is even allowed to be heard. These connect to Standards of Proof and Statements, Facts and the Weight of Evidence.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| prima facie | on its face | Enough, on first sight, to be taken as established unless answered. A prima facie case shifts the conversation to the other side to respond. |
| onus probandi | the burden of proof | Who must prove the point. In a personal grievance the employer must justify what it did; the worker does not have to prove the dismissal was unjustified. |
| locus standi | place of standing | The right to bring or be heard in a matter — whether you are a proper party at all. A threshold question raised to keep someone out. |
| res ipsa loquitur | the thing speaks for itself | Where harm of a kind that does not normally happen without fault has happened, fault may be inferred from the event itself. |
| in limine | at the threshold | A preliminary point dealt with before the substance, often an attempt to exclude evidence or end the matter early. |
| ore tenus | by word of mouth | Evidence or argument given orally rather than in writing. |
The language of authority: whether a body had the power to do what it did, and what to do when it did not. This is the territory of the incorporated society acting outside its rules, and of the public body exceeding its statutory power.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| ultra vires | beyond the powers | An act done without the legal power to do it — a committee acting outside its constitution, or a body exceeding its statute. An ultra vires act can be struck down. |
| intra vires | within the powers | The opposite: an act properly within the authority granted. |
| ab initio | from the beginning | From the very start. Something void ab initio never had legal effect at all, as opposed to being undone later. |
| ex facie | on the face of it | Apparent from the document itself, without needing further argument — as where an error is obvious on the face of a decision. |
| mandamus | we command | A court order compelling a public body to perform a duty it is required to perform. |
| quo warranto | by what authority | A challenge demanding that a person show the legal right by which they hold an office or exercise a power. |
What happens after a wrong is found: how loss is measured and how a position is restored.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| restitutio in integrum | restoration to the whole | Putting a person back in the position they were in before the wrong, so far as money or reinstatement can. |
| pro rata | in proportion | Calculated proportionally — a part-period of leave or pay worked out by the share of time involved. |
| pari passu | on equal footing | Ranking equally, without one being preferred over another — for example, creditors paid in equal proportion. |
| ex nunc | from now | Taking effect only from this point forward, not backwards. |
| ex tunc | from then | Taking effect from the original time, as though the position had always been so. |
| mutatis mutandis | with the necessary changes made | Apply this the same way, changing only the details that obviously need changing. Common when one clause borrows another. |
Finally, the shorthand that fills judgments, determinations, and submissions. None of it is doing anything clever — it is just abbreviation, and knowing it lets you read a decision at full speed.
| Term | Literally | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| inter alia | among other things | Signals the list is not complete — this is one item drawn from more. |
| et al. | and others | Stands in for the rest of a list of people or parties. |
| et seq. | and the following | The cited page or section and those that follow it. |
| viz. | namely | Introduces a precise specification of what was just mentioned. |
| sic | thus | Marks that an error in a quotation is in the original, not a slip in the copying. |
| ibid. | in the same place | Refers to the source cited immediately before. |
| supra / infra | above / below | Points the reader to something earlier (supra) or later (infra) in the same document. |
| cf. | compare | Invites a comparison, often with a source that points the other way. |
| per se | in itself | By its very nature, considered on its own. |
| ad hoc | for this | Made up for the particular occasion, not following any general rule. |
| pro tem | for the time being | Temporary; holding a position or arrangement only until a permanent one is settled. |
| sui generis | of its own kind | Unique; not fitting any existing category, and so judged on its own terms. |
Legislation cited is linked to the current consolidated text on the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office website at legislation.govt.nz. This guide is a plain-language reference compiled by Working for Workers; literal translations are given for orientation only, and no entry is a substitute for advice on how a term applies to your own situation.
It does not matter who is making the decision — an employer, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), an incorporated society, a tribunal, or any public body exercising a statutory power. If the process used against you is unfair, the Latin does not change that, and it should never be the reason you feel you cannot push back.
Working for Workers stands up for people facing unfair and unreasonable process, across four areas of practice:
Fairness in Law · Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Law · Employment Law · Incorporated Societies Evaluation
Whatever the decision-maker, if you are up against an unfair or biased process, get in touch and we will help you work out where you stand.