Procedural default  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump
to: navigation, search  Procedural default is a concept in
American federal courts law that requires a state prisoner
seeking a writ of Habeas Corpus in federal court to have
"present[ed] his federal law argument to the state courts in
compliance with state procedural rules. Failure to do so will
bar any attempt to present that argument to the federal courts
on collateral review. A petitioner may evade this bar only by
showing 'cause' and 'prejudice' for the default -- that is, by
stating a good reason for not presenting the federal claim to
the state courts, and by showing that the federal error worked
to the petitioner's 'actual and substantial disadvantage.'" [1]
1. ^ Ernest Young, Institutional Settlement in a Globalizing
Judicial System, 54 Duke L. J. 1143, 1166 (2005) (footnotes
omitted).