What does capricious mean in law?

Asked by: Hassie Johnston DDS  |  Last update: April 11, 2025
Score: 4.7/5 (47 votes)

adv., adj. unpredictable and subject to whim, often used to refer to judges and judicial decisions which do not follow the law, logic or proper trial procedure. A semi-polite way of saying a judge is inconsistent or erratic.

What does arbitrary and capricious mean in law?

"A decision is arbitrary if it comes about seemingly at random or by chance or as a capricious and unreasonable act of will. It is capricious if it is the product of a sudden, impulsive and seemingly unmotivated notion or action." City of Livingston v. Park Conserv.

What is an example of capricious behavior?

Capricious is an adjective to describe a person or thing that's impulsive and unpredictable, like a bride who suddenly leaves her groom standing at the wedding altar.

What is the legal definition of capricious?

To be capricious is to have an unpredictable, sudden, and unaccountable change in attitude or behavior.

What does it mean to be a capricious person?

: governed or characterized by caprice : impulsive, unpredictable.

🔵 Capricious Caprice - Capricious Meaning - CAprice Examples - Formal English

27 related questions found

Is it a bad thing to be capricious?

Being capricious can be an obstacle to personal growth and a source of conflict with others. However, it is possible to overcome this behavior and learn to be more rational and balanced in our demands and desires.

What do you call a person who doesn't like change?

When a person is inexorable, they're stubborn. When a thing or process is inexorable, it can't be stopped. This is a word for people and things that will not change direction. An inexorable person is hard-headed and cannot be convinced to change their mind, no matter what.

What do you call someone who is capricious?

Some common synonyms of capricious are fickle, inconstant, mercurial, and unstable. While all these words mean "lacking firmness or steadiness (as in purpose or devotion)," capricious suggests motivation by sudden whim or fancy and stresses unpredictability. an utterly capricious critic.

What is the capricious rule?

The arbitrary-or-capricious test is a short-hand term for the scope-of-judicial-review provision in section 706(2)(A) of the APA directing reviewing courts to invalidate agency actions found to be "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law."

Does capricious mean bipolar?

People often trivialize this condition, describing capricious people as “a little bipolar,” which is incorrect and harmful.

What causes a person to be capricious?

Capriciousness in behavior as exhibited by people can be because of a variety of reasons. Firstly, it might temporarily occur as a result of different environmental situation, it can also occur due to underlying disorder. Mood instability or mood swing is commonly seen in most people in some or the other time.

What do you call a person who changes mood easily?

If you're in a bad mood, especially when you were in a pretty good mood this morning, you can say you're moody. A moody person's emotions change unpredictably and often. Someone with erratic moods is moody — you could also call them temperamental or changeable.

What is the quality of being capricious?

capriciousness in British English

noun. the quality of being characterized by or liable to sudden unpredictable changes in attitude or behaviour; impulsiveness.

What are capricious conditions?

The dictionary defines the word capricious as an adjective, used to describe something which is given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior. In other words, variable, volatile and fickle — all words which can easily be used to describe recent weather conditions here in Dayton.

What is the Chevron test?

Generally, to be accorded Chevron deference, the agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute had to be permissible, which the Court has defined to mean “rational” or “ reasonable .” In determining the reasonableness for the particular construction of a statute by the agency, the age of that administrative ...

What is arbitrary in layman's terms?

Plain English (layman's terms) is a mode of writing or speaking the English language intended to be easy to understand regardless of one's familiarity with a given topic. It usually avoids the use of rare words and uncommon euphemisms to explain the subject.

What is the 3 rule of law?

Rule of law is a principle under which all persons, institutions, and entities are accountable to laws that are: Publicly promulgated. Equally enforced. Independently adjudicated.

What is the golden rule in court case?

Golden rule argument is an argument made by a lawyer during a jury trial to ask the jurors to put themselves in the place of the victim or the injured person and deliver the verdict that they would wish to receive if they were in that person's position.

What is the Wright's rule?

In 1936, he detailed his full findings in the paper “Factors Affecting the Costs of Airplanes.” Now known as “Wright's Law”, or experience curve effects, the paper described that “we learn by doing” and that the cost of each unit produced decreases as a function of the cumulative number of units produced.

Is capricious positive or negative?

Capricious can have a negative or a not-so-negative meaning. In one, capriciousness is selfish, in the other it is fanciful and charming. So if the person who used the word understands its current definition, it's probably not a compliment.

What do you call a person who constantly changes their mind?

Ambivalent, undecided, fickle, indecisive, or uncertain.

What is a capricious behavior?

adjective. characterized by or liable to sudden unpredictable changes in attitude or behaviour; impulsive; fickle.

What do you call someone who never admits they're wrong?

The most common word for this is stubborn. A stubborn person has decided they will do what they want and refuses to do anything else. They can be stubborn about doing something, or they can be stubborn as part of their character. Stubborn is a disapproving word. She's so stubborn, she'll never admit that she was wrong.

What is a word for something you can't get rid of?

"Indispensable." Vocabulary.com Dictionary, Vocabulary.com, https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/indispensable. Accessed 27 Jan. 2025.

What do you call a person who changes sides quite often?

A Turncoat, also known as a Turncloak, is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party.