A controversy or dispute occurs when parties
actively disagree,
argue about, or
debate, a matter of
opinion. Controversies can range
in size from
private disputes
between two
individuals
to large-scale disagreements between
societies.
Perennial areas of controversy include
religion,
philosophy and
politics. Controversy in
matters of
theology has
traditionally been particularly heated, giving rise to the phrase
odium
theologicum. Controversial issues are held as potentially
divisive in a given society, because they can lead to tension and
ill will. Some controversies are considered
taboo to many people, unless a
society can find a common ground to share and discuss its people's
feelings on a certain
controversial issue.
In law
In
the
theory of law, a controversy differs from a
legal case;
while the latter includes all suits,
criminal as well as
civil,
a controversy is a purely civil proceeding.
For example, the
Case or Controversy Clause of
Article Three of the United States Constitution (
Section
2, Clause 1) states that "the judicial Power shall
extend ... to Controversies to which the United
States shall be a Party". This clause has been deemed to impose a
requirement that United States federal courts are not permitted to
hear cases that do not pose an actual controversy—that
is, an actual dispute between adverse parties which is capable of
being resolved by the
court. In addition to setting out
the scope of the jurisdiction of the federal judiciary, it also
prohibits courts from issuing
advisory
opinions, or from hearing cases that are either
unripe, meaning that the
controversy has not arisen yet, or
moot, meaning that the
controversy has already been resolved.
Amount
in controversy is a term in United States
civil
procedure to denote a requirement that persons seeking to bring
a
lawsuit in a
particular court must be
suing for a
certain minimum amount before that court may hear the case.
In early Christianity
Many of the early
Christian
writers, among them
Irenaeus,
Athanasius, and
Jerome, were
famed as "controversialists"; they wrote works against perceived
heresy
or heretical individuals, works whose titles begin "Adversus..."
such as Irenaeus'
Adversus haereses. The Christian writers inherited from the
classical
rhetors the
conviction that controversial confrontations, even over trivial
matters, were a demonstration of intellectual superiority. See
Christian theological controversy.
disagree in Bulgarian: Спор
disagree in German: Kontroverse
disagree in Estonian: Vaidlus
disagree in Spanish: Controversia
disagree in French: Controverse
disagree in Hebrew: מחלוקת
disagree in Portuguese: Controvérsia
disagree in Simple English: Controversy
disagree in Yiddish: מחלוקת
agree to differ, agree to disagree,
argue, be at cross-purposes, be at
variance, be distinct, be distinguished, be in dissent, be unmoved,
be unwilling, beg off, beg to differ,
bicker,
break, break off,
clash, clash with,
collide,
conflict, conflict with,
contend,
contest,
contradict, contrast with,
counter,
debate,
decline, decline to accept,
depart from, deviate from,
differ, differ in opinion,
disaccord, disaccord
with, disagree with,
disallow,
disclaim,
discord, discord with,
dispute,
dissent, dissent from,
divaricate from,
diverge, diverge from,
divide, divide on, drop out, fall
out,
fight, hold opposite
views, hold out against,
jangle,
jar, jar with,
jostle,
mismatch,
mismate, misunderstand one
another,
negate,
negative, not accord with, not
agree, not buy, not consent, not get along, not hear of, not square
with, not think of,
object,
oppose, pull different ways,
quarrel,
refuse, refuse consent,
reject,
repudiate, resist entreaty,
resist persuasion, say nay, say no,
secede,
squabble, stand aloof, stand
apart, stand over against, take exception, take issue, turn down,
vary, vote nay, vote
negatively,
withdraw,
withhold assent,
wrangle