Prima facie Prima facie Prima facie (; ) is a Latin expression meaning "on its first encounter" or "at first sight". The literal translation would be "at first face" or "at first appearance", from the feminine forms of "primus" ("first") and "facies" ("face"), both in the ablative case. In modern, colloquial and conversational English, a common translation would be "on the face of it". The term "prima facie" is used in modern legal English (including both civil law and criminal law) to signify that upon initial examination, sufficient corroborating evidence appears to exist to support a case. In common law jurisdictions, "prima
Sight-reading the ability to read silently was notable enough for St. Augustine to comment on it. The term "a prima vista" is also used, as Italian words and phrases are commonly used in music and music notation. To play a musical piece "a prima vista" means to play it 'at first sight'. According to Payne, "the ability to hear the notes on the page is clearly akin to music reading and should be considered a prerequisite for effective performance... Egregious errors can occur when a student, analyzing a piece of music, makes no effort to play or hear the composition but