merits
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 271 U.S. 228 - General Inv Co v. New York Cent R Co · 1926Most cited · 177 citing opinions
the various elements which enter into or qualify the plaintiff's right to the relief sought; where a plaintiff seeking preventive relief lacks standing, the appropriate decree is a dismissal for want of merits, not for want of jurisdiction
How often courts cite the case defining “merits”
Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “merits” — 174 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.