What does enjoinder mean?
An enjoinder is a formal legal order directing someone not to perform a particular act, essentially an injunction used as a noun of command. In contracts, litigation, and administrative practice, it can restrain threatened or continuing conduct, such as misuse of a trademark or violation of a contractual undertaking. The word is uncommon compared with injunction and sounds technical, formal, and somewhat literary or archaic. Although its -er ending can suggest a person, its dominant legal sense refers to the order itself; the rare personal sense means one who enjoins. An enjoinder is consequently associated with authority, restraint, and the enforcement of duties. It is worth knowing in contracts and litigation, where older legal drafting may use it in preference to the more familiar injunction, but in ordinary modern usage, injunction is generally clearer and more idiomatic. It appears in formal legal instruments and reports rather than everyday conversation.
nounA legal order directing a person or party to refrain from specified conduct; broadly, an injunction or formal command.
- A legal or judicial order directing a person or party to refrain from specified conduct.
- Rarely, a person who enjoins or issues such an order.
"The court issued an enjoinder restraining the former employee from contacting clients."
"The court issued an enjoinder restraining the former employee from contacting clients."
"No enjoinder was sought before the hearing, despite the allegation of misuse of confidential information."
The regular plural is enjoiners, although the plural is rarely needed in practice.
"The court issued separate enjoiners restraining publication of the confidential reports."
Despite its person-sounding -er ending, an enjoinder usually names a legal order, not a person.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does enjoinder come from?
Enjoinder was formed in English by adding the suffix -er to enjoin. Enjoin comes through Old French enjoindre from Latin injungere, formed from in- and jungere, meaning “to join.” The noun developed in legal use for an order that binds or restrains someone; injunction and joinder continue the same Latin family.
How enjoinder is actually used
This is formal, uncommon legal terminology. It is more characteristic of legal writing and historical sources than ordinary conversation, and the personal sense is especially rare.
Easily confused with enjoinder
An injunction can also refer to the legal principle or prohibition involved, while an enjoinder more directly names a formal order restraining conduct.
Joinder is the combining of parties or claims in litigation, whereas an enjoinder is an order directing someone to refrain from conduct.