Legal Definitions - harmless error

Definition: Harmless error is a mistake made by a judge during a trial that does not affect the outcome of the case or the fairness of the trial. When an appellate court reviews a case and finds that an error was harmless, it means that the error did not harm the rights of the party who is appealing and does not require a new trial or a reversal of the judgment.

Examples of harmless errors include:

• Technical errors that do not affect the outcome of the trial, such as a mistake in the wording of a jury instruction.
• An error that was corrected during the trial, such as allowing testimony that should not have been admitted but then striking it from the record and instructing the jury to disregard it.

For instance, if a witness accidentally mentions something that the judge had previously ruled inadmissible, the judge may instruct the jury to ignore that testimony. If the appellate court finds that the testimony did not affect the outcome of the case, it may consider the error to be harmless.

The difference between a harmless error and a reversible error is that a reversible error is serious enough to require a new trial or a reversal of the judgment. Harmless errors, on the other hand, do not affect the outcome of the case and do not require any further action.