Nominal
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
Apparent; formal; verbal; the antithesis of real or substantial.
Nominal damages
When plaintiff in an action of tort proves the technical commission of the wrong alleged, but does not appear to have suffered any substantial injury, some damages must be awarded him because he has proved a cause of action; but they can be only trivial, because no loss has been sustained. Such an award is called giving nominal damages. An example is where plaintiff sues for a slander, which he proves, but defendant shows that plaintiff was a person of no i-eputation. In such a case, the jury will often award only six and a quarter cents damages.
Nominal partner
An apparent partner; one who is held out as being a member of a firm when he has no ownership of the capital nor any interest in the business or profits. Nominal party, plaintiff, or defendant. One who is joined as party to a suit, in obedience to some technical rule of law, but who has no real interest in the controversy, no substantial right upon which the court is called to pass.