Decree

A judgment of a court that announces the legal consequences of the facts found in a case and orders that the court's decision be carried out. A decree in EQUITY is a sentence or order of the court, pronounced on hearing and understanding all the points in issue, and determining the rights of all the parties to the suit, according to equity and good conscience. It is a declaration of the court announcing the legal consequences of the facts found. With the procedural merger of law and equity in the federal and most state courts under the Rules of Civil Procedure, the term judgment has generally replaced decree.

A divorce decree sets out the conclusions of the court relating to the facts asserted as grounds for the DIVORCE, and it subsequently dissolves the marriage.

Decree is sometimes used interchangeably with determination and order.