sua sponte

In law, sua sponte (Latin: "of his, her, its or their own accord") or suo motu "on its own motion" describes an act of authority taken without formal prompting from another party. The term is usually applied to actions by a judge taken without a prior motion or request from the parties. The form nostra sponte ("of our own accord") is sometimes used by the court itself, when the action is taken by a multi-member court, such as an appellate court, rather than by a single judge (third parties describing such actions would still refer to them as being taken by the court as a whole and therefore as 'sua sponte'). While usually applied to actions of a court, the term may reasonably be applied to actions by government agencies and individuals acting in official capacity.