Short answer. No. A judgment or final order determining the merits must be in writing, personally and directly prepared by the judge, stating clearly and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based, signed by the judge, and filed with the clerk of court. A bare conclusion is not a valid judgment.
What the law says
shall be in writing personally and directly prepared by the judge, stating clearly and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based, signed by him, and filed with the clerk of the court
Rule 36, Section 1 — Rendition of judgments and final orders. Read the full provision →
The anatomy of a valid judgment
The rule packs every requirement into one sentence: a judgment or final order determining the merits shall be in writing personally and directly prepared by the judge, stating clearly and distinctly the facts and the law on which it is based, signed by him, and filed with the clerk of the court. Each element does work. The writing and signature fix what was decided and by whom; the filing with the clerk marks the moment the judgment legally exists; and the statement of facts and law — the element your question is about — is what separates a judicial decision from a mere announcement of who won.
Why the reasons are not optional
The duty to state clearly and distinctly the facts and the law serves everyone the judgment touches. It disciplines the judge, who must trace a path from evidence to conclusion rather than rule by instinct. It respects the losing party, who is entitled to know why they lost — not least so they can decide intelligently whether to appeal, and on what points. And it makes appellate review possible at all: a higher court cannot assess a decision whose basis is invisible. A decision that merely announces a result gives the appellate court nothing to examine and the losing party nothing to answer.
What this covers — and what it does not
Notice the rule's own scope: it governs a judgment or final order determining the merits of the case. The full apparatus of stated facts and law attaches to the ruling that resolves the dispute. Courts issue many other orders along the way — resetting hearings, ruling on routine motions — and those interlocutory orders are not held to the same requirement. So the question to ask about a terse issuance is what it actually does: if it disposes of the case on the merits, the requirement of a reasoned, written, signed and filed decision applies to it in full.
If your decision states no reasons
Read the document with counsel and identify precisely what is missing — findings of fact, the legal basis, or both. A decision that fails to state the facts and the law as the rule commands is vulnerable, and the defect can be raised in a motion for reconsideration before the same court or pressed on appeal. Move quickly either way: the periods for challenging a judgment run from notice of it, and they run whether or not the judgment is well crafted. The absence of reasons is a ground to attack the decision, not a reason to assume it does not bind you.