BRIEF (from the Latin brevis, short), a brief or short statement or summary, particu larly the summary of a client's case which the solicitor draws up for the instruction of coun sel. In American practice a brief is an abridged statement of a party's case. It should give the names of the parties to the action, their resi dence and occupation, and tell the character in which they sue and are sued, and wherefore they prosecute or resist the action. It should contain an abridgment of all the pleadings; a chronological and methodical statement of the facts, in language easily understood; a sum mary of the questions in issue, and of the evi dence which is to support each of the issues; the names of the witnesses by whom the facts are to be proved, or if there be written evi dence, an abstract of such evidence; a descrip tion of the personal character of the witnesses, whether morally good or bad, whether they are naturally timid or over-zealous, firm or waver ing, and the like. It should contain also a summary of the evidence of the opposite party, if known, and such facts as are adapted to oppose, confute or repel it. The object of the brief is to inform the person who tries the case of the facts important for him to know.
In some of the State courts and in the Supreme Court of the United States it is customary or requisite to prepare briefs of cases for the perusal of the court. These are usually printed.
Briefs vary according to the purposes for which they are to be used. The points in a brief intended for the court should be printed in a bold, heavy-faced letter, although subordinate matter may be put in capitals, italics and com mon type, according to its importance. The word has a different meaning in Great Britain, where it is the duty of the attorney to prepare the case only, and that of the barrister to plead the case before court. A brief, under the Eng lish practice, is the concise statement of the case as it leaves the hands of the attorney, and serves as a guide to the barrister as well as his instructions for proceeding in open court. A brief intended for the court must be in decorous language and respectful to a judge from whose decision an appeal has been taken, and to the opposite party and counsel and all other persons named therein. Consult Abbot, N., 'Brief Mak ing and the Use of Law (Saint Paul 1906). The phrase °Brief of Title° is some times employed in the place of the usual term "Abstract of Title° to denote the concise state ment of the deeds, conveyances and changes in ownership which may have occurred in the history of the title to a certain piece of real estate.