This page is continued from Court Proceedings >>>> Court Rulings, Orders, Decrees, Judgments, and Opinions:

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ruling:
n. (16c)

1. The outcome of a court’s decision either on some point of law or on the case as a whole. — aka legal ruling.  Cf. JUDGMENT (2); OPINION (1). [1]

1. A determination made by the court during the course of a trial, for example, a determination of the admissibility of particular evidence. State v O’Brien, 18 Mont1, 43 P 1091.  In some connections, the final decision in a case. [2]

1. A determination made by a judge or a hearing officer during the course of a trial or hearing.  EXAMPLE:  a determination with respect to the admissibility of particular evidence.

2. The final decision in a case, whether by a court or an administrative agency  of a statute or regulation.  EXAMPLE: a determination letter. [3]

     Excerpt from Robert E. Keeton’s Judging (1990):

     “A distinction is sometimes made between rules and rulings.  Whether or not a formal distinction is declared, in common usage ‘legal ruling’ (or simply ‘ruling’) is a term ordinarily used to signify the outcome of applying a legal test when that outcome is one of relatively narrow impact.  The immediate effect is to decide an issue in a single case. This meaning contrasts, for example, with the usual meaning of ‘legal rule’ (or simply ‘rule’).  The term ‘rule’ ordinarily refers to a legal proposition of general application.  A ‘ruling’ may have force as precedent, but ordinarily it has that force because the conclusion it expresses (for example, ‘objection sustained’) explicitly depends upon and implicitly reiterates a ‘rule’ -a legal proposition of more general application . . . .” [4]