Per Curiam is a judicial opinion by a court with multiple judges without citing any single judge as the author.
Overview
A per curiam decision is a court opinion issued in the name of the Court rather than specific judges. Most decisions on the merits by the courts take the form of one or more opinions written and signed by individual justices. Often, other judges/justices will join these opinions. Even when these signed opinions are unanimous, they are not per curiam, as the judges'/justices' names who wrote and joined in the opinion still appear.
Per curiam decisions are typically short and resolve cases through summaries and without hearing oral arguments (but not always). The per curiam opinions will typically address issues the Court views as relatively non-controversial.
Per curiam decisions are not always unanimous and non-controversial. For example, in Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion and the individual justices published their own concurring opinions and dissents.
Examples of Per Curiam Decisions
For examples of per curiam decisions, see Wood v. Bartholomew, 516 U.S. 1 (1995) and Kimberlin v. Quinlin, 515 U.S. 321(1995).
For more on the history of per curiam decisions, see this Journal of Supreme Court History article.
[Last updated in June of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]