Also known as: one or the other
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Latin maxim denoting one of two alternatives. It identifies a choice between exactly two options without requiring selection of a particular one.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Adrian Aguilar faced an attacker swinging a metal pipe at his head. He could either retreat into traffic or strike back with a wooden board. Under the governing standard, the board strike was privileged because it was not intended or likely to cause serious bodily harm, even though the attacker could have chosen the other option of complying with a retreat command.
Anika Anand sued in federal court on a state-law contract claim seeking damages. The defendant argued the claim was time-barred under state law. The court treated the limitations rule as the alteruter choice between federal or state procedural treatment and applied the state bar because the outcome would otherwise differ by forum.
Alexandra Armstrong challenged a local handgun ban. The government defended the law as one of two alteruter approaches to public safety. The Court held the Second Amendment protects an individual right, rejecting the total prohibition even though the city could have chosen a different regulatory path.
Arthur Abrams sued city officers for an unlawful search. The officers claimed they acted under color of state law. The Court treated the alteruter question of whether the conduct was private or official and held that misuse of state authority still constitutes action under color of law.
Alice Atkins was convicted after the prosecutor commented on her silence. The state argued the error was harmless. The Court framed the alteruter inquiry as whether the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt and reversed because the comments could have contributed to the verdict.
Antonio Alvarado, a college coach, sued a magazine for false reporting. The publisher claimed the statements concerned a public controversy. The Court applied the alteruter standard distinguishing public figures from private persons and required actual malice because the coach had thrust himself into the public eye.
It identifies a reference to exactly one of two alternatives. The phrase allows a pleader or court to treat either option as sufficient without designating which one applies.
Alteruter simply denotes one or the other of two items. Alternative pleading permits a party to assert inconsistent theories in the same complaint without electing between them at the pleading stage.
Direct use is rare. Courts more often employ the English equivalent one or the other when describing a binary choice between two legal standards or remedies.
…not instruct the jury to differentiate between general and punitive damages, it may be that the verdict was wholly an award of one or the other. But it is impossible to know, in view of the general verdict returned. Because of this uncertainty, the judgment must be reversed and the case remanded. Stromberg v. California, 283 U. S.…