I have always been mystified at the unqualified "open to discussion or debate" meaning of moot , and consider it to be an error at least if used within the confines of American English. I've never seen it used that way, without the accompanying notion that though the question itself is unresolved, it is not useful to debate in the current context because of lack of relevance. If someone declared that a point was moot, then followed up with " And that's the way it is used in U.
There is accordingly a fairly rich body of case law supporting the legal doctrine of mootness, and outlining its limits and exceptions. Practically speaking, the issue of mootness is not whether the issue is truly just abstract or academic, it's whether the court thinks it can finagle its way out of addressing it in the context of the facts of a specific case.
For example, even though a case is initially considered moot, it may be addressed by a court if it is capable of repetition, yet evading review , i. It derives from the noun moot , in its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students.
Consequently, a moot question is one that is arguable or open to debate. But in the midth century people also began to look at the hypothetical side of moot as its essential meaning, and they started to use the word to mean "of no significance or relevance.
A number of critics have objected to this use, but 59 percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence The nominee himself chastised the White House for failing to do more to support him, but his concerns became moot when a number of Republicans announced that they, too, would oppose the nomination. When using moot one should be sure that the context makes clear which sense is meant. The American meaning, which is "we can debate this but whatever conclusion we reach is immaterial" has, even in England, largely superseded the original English meaning which was "we need to debate this".
A moot was a meeting to talk over issues - hence the original meaning of a moot point - from thefreedictionary. An ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the freemen of a shire. The term "moot" is used in several related ways. It can mean an argument that no longer has any practical consequence. It can mean an argument that can be endlessly debated with no way to reach a clear conclusion. It can mean an argument that is about something completely meaningless and thus only argued for the sake of having an argument.
Some people will insist that any meaning other than 'no longer important' is "incorrect". They're the same people who argue that it's wrong to use "hopefully" as a sentence adverb or that one shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. If for some reason you cannot ignore them, then only use "moot" in the legal sense -- an issue whose resolution no longer matters due to changes in circumstances. A "moot point" or saying a point is moot, as a phrase, is frequently misinterpretted.
It is frequently used to mean a point is irrelevant, not up for debate, not worth debating, or the speaker simply doesn't want to argue anymore, all of which are incorrect. The ancestral meaning, regarding moot court, may still be in use in some places, but I will focus on the other definition. Definition: moot point plural moot points. An issue that is subject to, or open for discussion or debate; originally, one to be definitively determined by an assembly of the people.
An issue regarded as potentially debatable, but no longer practically applicable. Although the idea may still be worth debating and exploring academically, and such discussion may be useful for addressing similar issues in the future, the idea has been rendered irrelevant for the present issue. Now, where people tend to go wrong is in the bastardization of the second definition. In your case, you removed the most vital portion of the definition, the central portion of the definition -- that the point is debatable.
Every definition of the word focuses on that primary point, and many people forget that. It is the origin of the word, and it has never lost that meaning. The point I would like to make is this -- to be a moot point in this second definition, the point must be both debatable and no longer applicable or relevant to the current case. This includes the definition in the US legal sense as well. It isn't that a subject isn't worth discussing, rather that it no longer has a practical application in the current circumstances.
I agree with Paul Robinson - In general American Colloquial English usage, a "moot point" is one that is, contrary to the original definition, "no longer open to debate;" is irrelevant; is an argument that no longer has any practical consequence.
The point is moot. You will often make extensive use of authority in delivering your submissions. You need to know what principle a given case stands for and if a case is binding on the court before which the moot is being argued. A critical aspect of mooting is time management.
You need to be able to expand or contract your submissions depending on how interventionist the judge is. In this section In Mooting: What is it and why take part? Blog Events News People. The Moot Problem includes all the facts supported by the evidence that has been presented before the Court. Teams may nonetheless draw reasonable inferences from the evidence produced.
They may also question the credibility or weight of the evidence. Teams should not hand anything to judges unless asked to by a judge. If a plan, idea, or subject is mooted, it is suggested or introduced for discussion. If something is a moot point or question, people cannot agree about it. In internet slang, moots is short for mutual followers, referring to people who follow and generally actively engage with each other on social media.
Moots is also commonly found in its singular form, moot. Are moot courts tough? Verb And it was they, not the British, who slapped down any suggestion of democratic reform when it was quietly mooted by British colonial officers in the s.
A spot in the stateside Guard would have suited him fine; in the event, he dodged and weaved until a low draft number came along to moot his problem. First Known Use of moot Adjective , in the meaning defined at sense 1a Verb 15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2 Noun before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1.
Learn More About moot. Time Traveler for moot The first known use of moot was before the 12th century See more words from the same century. Listen to Our Podcast About moot. Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox! Sign Up. From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. We'll get to the point. Style: MLA. More Definitions for moot. Legal Definition of moot Entry 1 of 2.
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