1. Wise conduct and management; cautious discernment; prudence.
2. Individual judgment; the power of free decision-making.
sole discretion. An individual’s power to make decisions without anyone else’s advice or consent.
3. Criminal & tort law. The capacity to distinguish between right and wrong, sufficient to make a person responsible for his or her own actions. [Cases: Criminal Law 46. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 96–98, 113.]
4. A public official’s power or right to act in certain circumstances according to personal judgment and conscience, often in an official or representative capacity.
— Also termed discretionary power.
administrative discretion. A public official’s or agency’s power to exercise judgment in the discharge of its duties. [Cases: Administrative Law and Procedure 324, 754. C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure §§ 60, 206, 223.]
judicial discretion. The exercise of judgment by a judge or court based on what is fair under the circumstances and guided by the rules and principles of law; a court’s power to act or not act when a litigant is not entitled to demand the act as a matter of right.
— Also termed legal discretion. [Cases: Courts 26. C.J.S. Courts §§ 3, 64–65, 67.]
prosecutorial discretion. A prosecutor’s power to choose from the options available in a criminal case, such as filing charges, prosecuting, not prosecuting, plea-bargaining, and recommending a sentence to the court. [Cases: Criminal Law 29(3); District and Prosecuting Attorneys
8. C.J.S. District and Prosecuting Attorneys §§ 20–21, 29–30.]
