- ABATEMENT OF ACTION - ABATEMENT OF ACTION -
- ABSTRACT OF RECORD - A short, abbreviated form of the case as found in the record.
- ABSTRACT OF TITLE - A chronological summary of all official records and recorded documents affecting the title to a parcel of real property.
- ACCOMPLICE - One who knowingly, voluntarily, and intentionally unites with the principal offender in the commission of a crime. A partner in a crime.
- ACCORD - A satisfaction agreed upon between the parties in a lawsuit which bars subsequent actions on the claim.
- ACCORD AND SATISFACTION - A method of discharging a claim upon agreement by the parties to give and accept
something in settlement of the claim.
- ACCUSATION - A formal charge against a person, to the effect that he has engaged in a punishable offense.
- ACCUSED – A person charged with a crime.
- ACQUIT - To legally certify the innocence of one charged with a crime. To set free, release or discharge from an obligation, burden or accusation. To find a defendant not guilty in a criminal trial.
- ACQUITTAL - In criminal law, a finding of not guilty. In contract law, a release, absolution, or discharge from an obligation, liability, or engagement.
- ACTION - Case, cause, suit, or controversy disputed or contested before a court of justice.
- ADJUDICATE - To determine finally.
- ADJUDICATION - Giving or pronouncing a judgment or decree or the judgment given.
- ADMISSIBLE - Pertinent and proper to be considered in reaching a decision.
- ADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE - Evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial.
- ADMISSION - Voluntary acknowledgment of the existence of certain facts relevant to the adversary's case.
- ADOPTION - To take into one's family the child of another and give him or her the rights, privileges, and duties of a child and heir.
- AFFIANT - A person who makes and signs an affidavit.
- AFFIDAVIT - A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE - Without denying the charge, the defendant raises circumstances such as insanity, self-defense, or entrapment to avoid civil or criminal responsibility.
- AGENT - One who has authority to act for another.
- AGGRAVATING FACTORS - Any factors associated with the commission of a crime which increase the seriousness of the offense or add to its injurious consequences.
- AGREEMENT - A mutual understanding and intention between two or more parties. The writing or instrument which is evidence of an agreement.
- AID AND ABET - Help, assist, or facilitate the commission of a crime.
- ALIBI - A defense claim that the accused was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed.
- ALIMONY - A court-ordered allowance that one spouse pays the other spouse for maintenance and support while they are either separated, pending suit for divorce, or after they are divorced.
- ALLEGATION - The assertion of a party to an action, setting out what he expects to prove.
- ALLEGE - To state, recite, assert, claim, maintain, charge or set forth. To make an allegation.
- ALLEGED - Asserted to be true as depicted or a person who is accused but has not yet been tried in court.
- ALLOCUTION - A defendant's statement in mitigation of punishment.
- AMEND - To change, correct, revise, improve, modify, or alter.
- AMENDMENT - The correction of an error admitted in any process.
- ANNOTATION - A case summary or commentary on the law cases, statutes, and rules illustrating its interpretation.
- APPEAL - A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly.
- APPEARANCE - A coming into court as party or interested person or as a lawyer on behalf of party or interested person.
- APPELLANT - The party appealing a final decision or judgment.
- APPELLATE COURT - A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a trial court's procedure.
- APPELLATE JURISDICTION - The appellate court has the right to review and revise the lower court decision.
- APPELLEE - The party against whom an appeal is taken. (Respondent)
- ARBITRATION - The referral of a dispute to an impartial third person chosen by the parties to the dispute who agree in advance to abide by the arbitrator's award issued after a hearing at which both parties have an opportunity to be heard.
- ARGUMENT - Remarks addressed by attorney to judge or jury on the merits of case or on points of law.
- ARREST - To deprive a person of his liberty by legal authority.
- ARSON - The malicious burning of someone else's or one's own dwelling or of anyone's commercial or industrial property.
- ASSAULT - Any willful attempt or threat to inflict injury upon the person of another, when coupled with the present ability to do so, and any intentional display of force such as would give victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.
- ASSIGNEE - The person to whom property rights or power are transferred by another, a grantee.
- AT ISSUE - The time in a lawsuit when the complaining party has stated his or her claim and the other side has responded with a denial and the matter is ready to be tried.
- ATTACHMENT - Taking a person's property to satisfy a court-ordered debt.
- ATTEMPT - An endeavor or effort to do an act or accomplish a crime, carries beyond preparation, but lacking execution.
- ATTEST - To bear witness to, to affirm to be true or genuine, to certify.
- ATTORNEY - Attorney at law, lawyer, counselor at law.
- AUTHENTICATE - To give authority or legal authenticity to a statute, record, or other written instrument.
- BAIL - Money or other security (such as a bail bond) provided to the court to temporarily allow a person's release from jail and assure his or her appearance in court. Bail and Bond are often used interchangeably.
- BAIL BOND - An obligation signed by the accused to secure his or her presence at the trial. This obligation means that the accused may lose money by not properly appearing for the trial. Often referred to simply as bond.
- BAIL BONDSMAN - A person who is the liable party in paying the bond for the defendant's release from jail.
- BAIL FORFEITURE Bail that is kept by the court as a result of not following a court order.
- BAIL REVIEW - A hearing established to re-evaluate the bail amount that was originally set for the accused.
- BATTERY - An offensive touching or use of force on a person without the person's consent.
- BENCH - The seat occupied by judges in courts.
- BENCH TRIAL - Trial without a jury in which a judge decides the facts.
- BENCH WARRANT - An order issued by a judge for the arrest of a person.
- BENEFICIARY - Someone named to receive property or benefits in a will. In a trust, a person who is to receive benefits from the trust.
- BEQUEATH - To give a gift to someone through a will.
- BEQUESTS - Gifts made in a will
- BIAS - Inclination, bent, a pre-conceived opinion or a predisposition to decide a cause or an issue a certain way.
- BIFURCATE - To try issues separately, such as guilt and criminal responsibility in a criminal proceeding or liability and damages in a civil action.
- BOND - A certificate or evidence of a debt. Often used interchangeably with bail.
- BREACH - The breaking or violating of a law, right, obligation, or duty either by doing an act or failing to do an act.
- BRIEF - A written statement prepared by the counsel arguing a case in court. It contains a summary of the facts of a case, the pertinent laws, and an argument of how the law applies to the facts supporting counsel's position.
- BURDEN OF PROOF - The obligation of a party to establish by evidence a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the trier of fact or the court.
- BURGLARY - - The act of entering or remaining illegally in a movable or immovable structure, vehicle or dwelling with intent to commit a felony.
- CAPITAL CASE - A criminal case in which the allowable punishment includes death.
- CAPITAL CRIME - A crime punishable by death.
- CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - Punishment by death for capital crimes. Death penalty.
- CASE - A general term for an action, cause, suit, or controversy brought before the court for resolution.
- CASE LAW - Law established by previous decisions of appellate courts, particularly the Supreme Court.
- CAUSATION - The act which produces an effect.
- CAUSE - A lawsuit, litigation, or action. Any question, civil or criminal, litigated or contested before a court of justice.
- CAUSE OF ACTION - The facts that give rise to a lawsuit or a legal claim.
- CERTIFIED - Attested as being true or an exact reproduction.
- CHALLENGE - An objection, such as when an attorney objects at a hearing to the seating of a particular person on a civil or criminal jury.
- CHARGE - A formal allegation, as a preliminary step in prosecution, that a person has committed a specific offense, which is recorded in a complaint, information or indictment.
- CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE - All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
- CITATION - A reference to a source of legal authority. A direction to appear in court, as when a defendant is cited in to court, rather than arrested.
- CIVIL ACTION - Noncriminal case in which one private individual or business sues another to protect, enforce, or redress private or civil rights.
- CIVIL CASE - A lawsuit brought to enforce, redress, or protect private rights or to gain payment for a wrong done to a person or party by another person or party. In general, all types of actions other than criminal proceedings.
- CIVIL PROCEDURE - The rules and process by which a civil case is tried and appealed, including the preparations for trial, the rules of evidence and trial conduct, and the procedure for pursuing appeals.
- CLAIM - The assertion of a right to money or property.
- CLASS ACTION - A lawsuit brought by one or more persons on behalf of a larger group.
- CLOSING ARGUMENT - The closing statement, by counsel, to the trier of facts after all parties have concluded their presentation of evidence.
- CODE - A collection, compendium, or revision of laws, rules, and regulations enacted by legislative authority.
- COLLATERAL - Property that is pledged as security against a debt.
- COMMIT - To execute, perpetrate, or carry out an act. (To commit a crime)
- COMMUTATION - The reduction of a sentence, such as from death to life imprisonment.
- COMPETENCY - Mental capacity of a person, especially with regard to his or her ability to stand trial and to assist counsel in his or her defense.
- COMPLAINANT - The party who complains or sues; one who applies to the court for legal redress. Also called the plaintiff.
- COMPLAINT - The legal document that usually begins a civil lawsuit. It states the facts and identifies the action the court is asked to take.
- COMPLY - To act in accordance with, to accept, to obey.
- CONCILIATION - A form of alternative dispute resolution in which the parties bring their dispute to a neutral third party, who helps lower tensions, improve communications, and explore possible solutions.
- CONCURRENT JURISDICTION - The jurisdiction of two or more courts, each authorized to deal with the same subject matter.
- CONFESSION - Voluntary statement made by one who is a defendant in a criminal trial, which, if true, discloses his or her guilt.
- CONFISCATE - To seize or take private property for public use.
- CONSIDERATION - The cause, price, or impelling influence which induces a party to enter into a contract.
- CONSPIRACY - An agreement by two or more persons to commit an unlawful act; in criminal law, conspiracy is a separate offense from the crime that is the object of the conspiracy.
- CONTRACT - A legally enforceable agreement between two or more competent parties made either orally or in writing.
- CONVICT - A person who has been found guilty of a crime and is serving a sentence for that crime; a prison inmate or to find a person guilty of an offense by either a trial or a plea of guilty.
- CONVICTION - A judgment of guilty following a verdict or finding of guilty, a plea of guilty, or a plea of nolo contendere.
- CORROBORATE - To support with evidence or authority; make more certain.
- CORROBORATING EVIDENCE - Supplementary evidence that tends to strengthen or confirm the initial evidence.
- CORROBORATION - Confirmation or support of a witness' statement or other fact.
- COUNSEL - A legal representative, attorney, lawyer.
- COUNTERCLAIM - A claim presented by a defendant in a civil lawsuit against the plaintiff. In essence, a counter lawsuit within a lawsuit.
- COUNTERFEIT - To forge, to copy or imitate, without authority or right, and with the purpose to deceive or defraud, by passing off the copy as genuine.
- CRIME - An act of omission or commission in violation of law which carries criminal consequences.
- CRIMINAL - One who has been convicted of a criminal offense. 2. That which is connected with the law of crimes.
- CRIMINAL CASE - A case brought by the government against a person accused of committing a crime.
- CROSS-EXAMINATION - The questioning of a witness produced by the other side.
- CUSTODY - The detention of a person by virtue of lawful process or authority.
- DAMAGES - Money awarded by a court to a person injured by the unlawful act or negligence of another person.
- DECREE - An order of the court. A final decree is one that fully and finally disposes of the litigation. An interlocutory decree is a preliminary order that often disposes of only part of a lawsuit.
- DEFAMATION - That which tends to injure a person's reputation. Libel is published defamation, whereas slander is spoken.
- DEFENDANT - In a criminal case, the person accused of the crime. 2. In a civil case, the person being sued.
- DEFENSE - Defendant's statement of a reason why the plaintiff or prosecutor has no valid case against defendant, especially a defendant's answer, denial, or plea.
- DEFENDANT - In a criminal case, the person accused of the crime. 2. In a civil case, the person being sued.
- DEFENSE - Defendant's statement of a reason why the plaintiff or prosecutor has no valid case against defendant, especially a defendant's answer, denial, or plea.
- DIRECT EVIDENCE - Proof of facts by witnesses who saw acts done or heard words spoken.
- DISSOLUTION - The act of ending.
- DOUBLE JEOPARDY - A person being put on trial more than once for the same offense.
- ESTOPPEL - A person's own act, or acceptance of facts, which preclude his or her later making claims to the contrary.
- EVICTION - Recovery of land or rental property from another by legal process.
- EXHIBIT - A document or other item introduced as evidence during a trial or hearing.
- EXTORTION - The act of obtaining the property of another person through wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear.
- EXTRADITION - The process by which one state or country surrenders to another state, a person accused or convicted of a crime in the other state.
- FALSE ARREST - Any unlawful physical restraint of another's personal liberty, whether or not carried out by a peace officer.
- FALSE IMPRISONMENT - The unlawful restraint by one person of another person's physical liberty.
- FORECLOSURE - Procedure by which mortgaged property is sold on default of the mortgagor in satisfaction of mortgage debt.
- FORFEIT - To lose, or lose the right to
- FORFEITURE - The loss of money or property resulting from failure to meet a legal obligation or from the illegal nature or use of the money or property.
- FORGERY - The act of claiming one's own writing to be that of another.
- GOOD FAITH - An honest belief, the absence of malice, and the absence of design to defraud.
- HEARING - A proceeding similar to a trial, without a jury, and usually of shorter duration.
- HEARSAY - Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else.
- HOMICIDE - The unlawful killing of one human being by another.
- HOSTILE WITNESS - A witness whose testimony is not favorable to the party who calls him or her as a witness.
- IMPEACHMENT - The process followed in deciding the removal of a person in a position from exercising all the powers and responsibilities that the position demands.
- INADMISSIBLE - That which, under the rules of evidence, cannot be admitted as evidence in a trial or hearing.
- INCAPACITY - The lack of power or the legal ability to act.
- INCOMPETENCY - Lack of capacity to understand the nature and object of the proceedings, to consult with counsel, and to assist in preparing a defense.
- INDICTMENT - A formal written accusation, issued by a grand jury, charging a party with a crime.
- INJUNCTION - Writ or order by a court prohibiting a specific action from being carried out by a person or group.
- INMATE - A person confined to a prison, penitentiary, or jail.
- INTERLOCUTORY - Provisional; not final.
- INTESTATE - Dying without a will.
- JUDGMENT - The final decision of the court, resolving the dispute; an opinion; an award.
- JURISDICTION - The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case.
- JUSTICIABLE - Issues and claims capable of being properly examined in court.
- JUVENILE - A young person who has not yet attained the age at which he or she should be treated as an adult for purposes of criminal law and other legal matters.
- LAWSUIT - An action between two or more persons in the courts of law, not a criminal matter.
- LEASE - A contract by which owner of property grants to another the right to possess, use, and enjoy it for a specified period of time in exchange for payment of an agreed price
- LIABILITY - Legal debts and obligations.
- LIABLE - Legally responsible.
- LIBEL - Published words or pictures that falsely and maliciously harm the reputation of a person.
- LITIGATION - A lawsuit.
- MALICE - Ill will, hatred, or hostility by one person toward another which may prompt the intentional doing of a wrongful act without legal justification or excuse.
- MANDATE - A judicial command or order proceeding from a court or judicial officer, directing the proper officer to enforce a judgment, sentence, or decree.
- MAYHEM - A malicious injury which disables or disfigures another.
- MORAL TURPITUDE - Immorality. An element of crimes inherently bad, as opposed to crimes bad merely because they are forbidden by statute.
- MOTION - Oral or written request made by a party to an action before, during, or after a trial asking the judge to issue a ruling or order in that party's favor
- MURDER - The unlawf ul killing of a human being with deliberate intent to kill.
- NEGLIGENCE - Failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonable person would use under the same circumstances.
- NULL AND VOID - Having no force, legal power to bind, or validity.
- OATH - Written or oral pledge by a witness to speak the truth.
- OBJECT - To protest to the court against an act or omission by the opposing party.
- OBJECTION - A protest to the court against an act or omission by the opposing party.
- OBJECTION OVERRULED - A ruling by the court upholding the act or omission of the opposing party.
- OBJECTION SUSTAINED - A ruling by the court in favor of the party making the objection.
- OFFENDER - One who commits a crime, such as a felony, misdemeanor, or other punishable unlawful act.
- OFFENSE - A crime, such as a felony, misdemeanor, or other punishable unlawful act.
- ORDINANCE - An act of legislation of a local governing body such as a city, town or county.
- ORIGINAL JURISDICTION - The court in which a matter must first be filed.
- OVERRULE - A judge's decision not to allow an objection. A decision by a higher court finding that a lower court decision was wrong.
- PARDON - Release from guilt or remission of punishment.
- PAROLE - Supervised release of a prisoner before the expiration of his or her sentence.
- PATENT - A government grant giving an inventor the exclusive right to make or sell his or her invention for a term of years.
- PENALTY - Punishment, civil or criminal, generally referring to payment of money.
- PERJURY - A false statement given while under oath or in a sworn affidavit.
- PETITION - A formal, written application to the court requesting judicial action on some matter.
- PETITIONER - The person filing an action in a court of original jurisdiction.
- PLAINTIFF - A person who initiates a lawsuit against another.
- PLEA - In a criminal proceeding, it is the defendant's declaration in open court that he or she is guilty or not guilty. The defendant's answer to the charges made in the indictment or information.
- PLEA BARGAIN - The process whereby the accused and the prosecutor in a criminal case work out a mutually satisfactory disposition of the case subject to court approval. Usually involves the defendant's pleading guilty to a lesser offense or to only one.
- PLEADINGS - The written statements of fact and law filed by the parties to a lawsuit.
- POWER OF ATTORNEY - Formal authorization of a person to act in the interest of another person.
- PRECEDENT - A previously decided case that guides the decision of future cases
- PREJUDICE - Bias, a preconceived opinion.
- PRESUMPTION - An inference of the truth or falsity of a proposition or fact, that stands until rebutted by evidence to the contrary.
- PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE - A principle of criminal law that a person is innocent of a crime until proven guilty.
- PRESUMPTION OF LAW – A rule of law that courts and judges shall draw a particular inference from a particular fact, or from particular evidence.
- PROBATION - A sentence imposed for the commission of a crime whereby a convicted criminal offender is released into the community, usually under conditions and under the supervision of a probation officer, instead of incarceration.
- PROCEDURAL LAW - The method, established normally by rules to be followed in a case; the formal steps in a judicial proceeding.
- PROSECUTION - A proceeding instituted and carried on in order to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.
- PROSECUTOR - A trial lawyer representing the government in a criminal case and the interests of the state in civil matters.
- QUASH - To overthrow, to vacate, to annul or make void.
- REDRESS - To set right; to remedy; to compensate; to remove the causes of a grievance.
- RESPONDENT - The party against whom an appeal is brought.
- RESTITUTION - Act of giving the equivalent for any loss, damage or injury.
- RESTRAINING ORDER - A court order forbidding the defendant from doing any action or threatened action until a hearing on the application can be conducted.
- REVERSE - An action of a higher court in setting aside or revoking a lower court decision.
- SANCTION - A punitive act designed to secure enforcement by imposing a penalty for its violation.
- SEARCH AND SEIZURE - A practice whereby a person or place is searched and evidence useful in the investigation and prosecution of a crime is seized or taken. The search is conducted after an order is issued by a judge.
- SEARCH WARRANT - An order issued by a judge or magistrate commanding a sheriff, constable, or other officer to search a specified location.
- SECURED DEBT - In bankruptcy proceedings, a debt is secured if the debtor gave the creditor a right to repossess the property or goods used as collateral.
- SELF-DEFENSE - Claim that an act otherwise criminal was legally justifiable because it was necessary to protect a person or property from the threat or action of another.
- SELF-INCRIMINATION - Acts or declarations by which one implicates oneself in a crime.
- SENTENCE - The judgment formally pronounced by the court or judge upon the defendant after his or her conviction by imposing a punishment to be inflicted either in the form of a fine, incarceration or probation.
- SETTLEMENT - An agreement between parties that dictates what is being received from one party to the other.
- SHOW CAUSE - An order requiring a person to appear in court and present reasons why a certain order, judgment, or decree should not be issued.
- SLANDER - False and defamatory spoken words tending to harm another's reputation, community standing, office, trade, business, or means of livelihood.
- STATUTE - A formal, written statement by legislature declaring, commanding, or prohibiting something.
- STRICT LIABILITY - A concept applied by courts in product liability cases in which a seller is liable for any and all defective or hazardous products which unduly threaten a consumer's personal safety.
- SUBSTANTIVE LAW - The law dealing with rights, duties, and liabilities, as contrasted with procedural law, which governs the technical aspects of enforcing civil or criminal laws.
- SUE - To commence legal proceedings for recovery of a right.
- SUIT - Any proceeding by one person or persons against another in a court of law.
- SUMMONS - A notice to a defendant that he or she has been sued or charged with a crime and is required to appear in court.
- TESTAMENT - A will disposing of personal property.
- TITLE - Legal ownership of property.
- TORT - A civil injury or wrong committed on the person or property of another. A tort is an infringement on the rights of an individual, but not founded on a contract.
- TRESPASSING - Unlawful interference with one's person, property and rights.
- TRIAL - A judicial examination and determination of issues between parties before a court that has jurisdiction.
- VANDALISM - Willful or malicious acts that are intended to damage or destroy public or private property.
- VERDICT - The opinion of a jury, or a judge where there is no jury, on the factual issues of a case.
- VICTIM - A person who is the object of a crime or civil wrongdoing.
- VIOLATION - The act of breaking, or infringing the law.
- WARRANT - Most commonly, a court order authorizing law enforcement officers to make an arrest or conduct a search.
- WILL - A legal declaration that disposes of a person's property when that person dies.
- WILLFUL – A willful act is one done intentionally, as distinguished from an act done carelessly or inadvertently.
- WITNESS - One who testifies to what they have seen, heard or otherwise observed.
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