Court Basics
This is the person or party who initiates a case against another person or party.
Who is the plaintiff?
This is a locked facility where youth are temporarily housed.
What is a detention center?
This is a government official with authority to decide cases brought before courts.
What is a judge?
This is security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
What is bail?
This is the misdemeanor of standing idly around, particularly in a public place, where it is not allowed.
What is loitering?
This is what it is called when you promise to tell the truth in court.
What is an oath?
This is defines as a place of confinement that is more than a police station and less than a prison.
What is a jail?
This is the term for any one person who serves on a jury.
What is a juror?
This is an agreement between the defendant and prosecutor where the defendant pleads guilty in exchange for a concession by the prosecutor.
What is a plea deal/plea bargain?
This is the act of claiming one's own writings or creation to be that of another.
What is forgery?
This is information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder to decide the case for one side or the other.
What is evidence?
This is a location in the courtroom where a conference can be held between the judge and lawyers held out of earshot of the jury and spectators.
What is sidebar?
This is the person that enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
What is a bailiff?
This can be used to describe an order to have someone arrested or an order to have property searched and seized.
What is a warrant?
This is an agreement by two or more persons to commit an unlawful act.
What is conspiracy?
This is an attempt to have a limited issue heard by the court.
What is a motion?
This is what the judge's office is called.
What is chambers?
This person makes a record of court proceedings, prepares a transcript, and publishes the court's opinions or decisions.
Who is a court reporter?
This is the study of law and the structure of the legal system.
What is jurisprudence?
This is the act of willfully taking or converting to one's own use, another's money or property, which the wrongdoer initially acquired lawfully, because of some office, employment, or some position of trust.
What is embezzlement?
This is a log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
What is a docket?
This is the term for the geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases. A federal court in one state, for example, can usually only decide a case that arose from actions in that state.
What is jurisdiction?
This is an officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
Who is a clerk?
This is a Latin term meaning "on one's own behalf"; in courts, it refers to persons who present their own cases without lawyers.
What is pro se?
This is the state or manner of living by wandering from place to place without a home, job, or means of support.
What is vagrancy?