moot

views updated May 29 2018

moot / moōt/ • adj. subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision: whether the temperature rise was mainly due to the greenhouse effect was a moot point. ∎  having no practical significance, typically because the subject is too uncertain to allow a decision: it is moot whether this phrase should be treated as metaphor or not.• v. [tr.] (usu. be mooted) raise (a question or topic) for discussion; suggest (an idea or possibility): Sylvia needed a vacation, and a trip to Ireland had been mooted.• n. Law a mock trial set up to examine a hypothetical case as an academic exercise.

moot

views updated Jun 08 2018

moot an assembly of people, especially one for judicial or legislative purposes. Chiefly associated with national and local administration from the Anglo-Saxon to the Early Modern period.

From the early 16th century, the term has also been used to designate a mock trial set up to examine a hypothetical case as an academic exercise. It was revived in the Inns of Court in the 19th century after falling into disuse, and introduced into universities where law is studied.

The use of moot as an adjective meaning ‘subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting a final decision’ derives from the use of moot court to designate this kind of mock trial.

Recorded from Old English and of Germanic origin, the word is ultimately related to meet.

moot

views updated May 29 2018

moot assembly of people, esp. for a judicial purpose XII; † argument, discussion XIII; discussion of a hypothetical case in the Inns of Court XVI. ME. (i)mōt :- OE. mōt (in comps. only: later re-inforced from ON.), and ġemōt :- Gmc. *(ʒɑ)mōtam; cf. MDu. moet, (also mod.) gemoet, MHG. muoze meeting, attack, ON. mót, and MEET2; of unkn. orig.
Hence moot adj. debatable, arguable XVI; developed from attrib. uses of the sb. (m. case, m. point).

Moot

views updated May 17 2018

MOOT

An issue presenting no real controversy.

Moot refers to a subject for academic argument. It is an abstract question that does not arise from existing facts or rights.

Moot court is a cocurricular or extracurricular activity in law school where students have the opportunity to write briefs and present oral arguments on hypothetical cases.

moot

views updated May 17 2018

moot See COPPICE STUMP.

moot

views updated May 18 2018

moot See coppice stump.

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