Court Ruling: A ruling is a court's decision on a matter presented in a lawsuit. Example: "After three long years, the court ruling came on the morning of April 20." Court Order: a direction issued by a court or a judge requiring a person to do or not do something. Example: The court order required that Lucas do 100 hours of community service

A court "ruling" means that the court made a decision about the case or about the law. A court "order" means an order. The court told somebody to do something. For example, "X's lawyer argued that what X had done was just a misunderstanding. The court did not agree. The court ruled that it was fraud, and ordered X to pay $3 million to X's victim."