The court held in a per curiam opinion that a peremptory challenge during voir dire was barred by precedent. Confused? Today the court ruled sua sponte that the motion for summary judgment was barred by res judicata. Huh?

Court News Ohio today launched an interactive online glossary to help the public understand the legal terms that courts and lawyers frequently use.

The new tool features pop-up definitions that appear when a reader hovers over underlined legal words in articles on the CNO web site. Try it in the first paragraph. Or browse the complete glossary, which currently contains 160 definitions translating legal jargon into simple English.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger played a key role in developing the court’s first interactive online glossary. A committed advocate of public education about the courts and a former teacher and law professor, Justice Lanzinger worked with the court’s public information office to choose legal terms relevant to Ohio and to edit each entry.

“It makes it easier for you to understand the reasoning and the analysis of what the justices have done,” Justice Lanzinger said. “Anything that will make it simpler and easier for people to understand is an excellent tool in my book.”

Along with the pop-up definitions and glossary, CNO today also introduces an instructive service for the bookish crowd – “Legal Word of the Week.” Follow Court News Ohio on Facebook or Twitter for each week’s featured legal word and definition.

In a wiki-like style, CNO encourages readers to suggest legal terms they think should be included in the glossary. Staff will review submissions and update the glossary with useful entries. Submissions may be sent to CNO@sc.ohio.gov.