Consent decree

A consent decree (also referred to as a consent order) is a judicial decree expressing a voluntary agreement between or among the parties to a lawsuit, especially an agreement by a defendant to cease certain activities alleged by the government to be illegal in return for an end to the litigation.

A consent decree can be either interlocutory or final. The former is given on some plea or issue arising in the lawsuit which does not decide the main question; the latter settles the matter in dispute, and a final decree has the same effect as a judgment at law.

Once entered, a consent decree is binding on the consenting parties and cannot be reviewed except on a showing that the consent was obtained by fraud or that the decree was based on mutual error or a failure of consent.

{{Wikipedia|Consent decree}