Although it emerged out of civil law, in the United States it has applied to federal criminal law since United States v. Oppenheimer in 1916. In 1970 in Ashe v. Swenson, the United States Supreme Court applied it to double jeopardy to limit prosecution for crimes committed at the same time. Codified at Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 8(c).
Collateral estoppel is closely related to the concept of res judicata (literally - that which has been decided); res judicata is the doctrine that two parties may not relitigate the same point of law after it has been decided by a judge (they may, however, appeal the decision to a higher court or ask the judge for reargument for a revised decision).
See also estoppel
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