Legal Definitions - absente

Definition: Absente (ab-sen-tee) is a Latin term that means "in the absence of."

For example, in legal reports, the term absente was used to indicate the absence of a judge. For instance, "The court, absente Ellis, J., was unanimous."

This means that Judge Ellis was not present during the court proceedings, but the court still reached a unanimous decision.

Another example could be, "The meeting was cancelled absente the chairman."

This means that the chairman was not present, and as a result, the meeting was cancelled.