JEOFAILE

A French legal phrase which signifies; "I am in an error; I have failed." There are certain statutes called statutes of amendment and jeofails because, where a pleader perceives any slip in the form of his proceedings and acknowledges the error - jeofaile - he is at liberty by those statutes to amend it. However, the amendment is seldom made. Rather, the benefit is attained by the court's overlooking the exception.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.