Prosudba

Prosudba is a noun used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and Slovenian. It denotes evaluation, assessment, appraisal, or judgment. The word is formed from the verb prosuditi, meaning to assess or judge, and it functions to describe the act of forming an opinion or the resulting assessment.

In legal contexts, prosudba refers to the process by which evidence, facts, and circumstances are weighed and interpreted by a court or judge. It is the evaluative step that informs a subsequent binding decision. The final judicial ruling may be called presuda or odluka, while prosudba itself emphasizes the evaluative reasoning behind the outcome.

Beyond law, prosudba is used in general and professional discourse to describe expert evaluations, risk assessments, quality appraisals, or opinions issued by authorities or specialists. For example, a medical prosudba of a patient’s condition or a financial prosudba of a project would reflect an informed assessment rather than a final verdict.

Related terms include ocena (rating or appraisal), procena (estimate or assessment), and evaluacija (evaluation). Prosudba highlights the process of forming an opinion, whereas presuda denotes a final court decision, and ocena or procena refer more broadly to evaluation or estimation across contexts.