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| A study of precedents and other authority for the purpose of developing or supporting a legal theory or position |
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| a legal responsibility such as a debt one is required to pay, and obligation one must discharge, the circumstance one is in when he or she has breached a contract, or a person's responsibility after he or she has committed a tort that causes injury. |
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| an actual occurrence, as distinguished from the legal consequences of the occurrence. |
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| the entire body of rules of conduct created by government and enforced by the authority of government |
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| A legal action; the area of law concerning trial work. |
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| a person who brings a lawsuit. |
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| the initial leading in a civil action, in which the plaintiff alleges a cause of action and asks that the wrong done him or her be remedied by the court. |
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| the name given in some jurisdictions to a complaint or other pleading that alleges a cause of action. |
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| the person against whom an action is brought. |
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| a person's object in bringing a lawsuit; the function or purpose of a remedy |
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| the process by which an action is commenced and the defendant is brought within the jurisdiction of the court |
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| a writ issued by a judge, ordering a person to appear in court for a specified purpose. |
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| delivery of a summons, writ, complaint, or other process to the opposite party, or other person entitled to receive it, in such manner as the law prescribes, whether by leaving a copy at the part's residence, by mailing a copy to the party or the party's attorney, or by publication. |
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| a pleading in response to a complaint. an answer may deny the allegations of the complaint, demur to them, agree with them, or introduce affirmative defenses intended to defeat the plaintiff's lawsuit or delay it. |
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| a counterclaim against a coplaintiff or a codefendant. |
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| a complaint filed by the defendant in a lawsuit against a third person whom he or she seeks to bring into the action because of that person's alleged liability to the defendant. |
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| a cause of action on which a defendant in a lawsuit might have sued the plaintiff in a separate action, which is stated in a separate division of a defendant's answer. |
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| a conference held between the judge and counsel for all parties prior to trial, for the purpose of facilitating disposition of the case by, among other actions, simplifying the pleadings, narrowing the issues, obtaining stipulations to avoid unnecessary proof and limiting the number of witnesses. |
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| a list of cases for trail or other dispositions; a court calendar |
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| a means for providing a party, in advance of trail, with access to facts that are within the knowledge of the other side, to enable the party to better try his or her case. |
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| transcripts of witnesses' testimonies given under oath outside of the courtroom, usually in advance of the trail or hearing, upon oral examination or in response to written interrogatories |
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| a person who give a deposition |
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| to charge a public officer with defective performance in office. |
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| written questions put by one party to another, or, in limited situations, to a witness in advance of trail. |
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| request for production of documents |
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| a request to a party to produce documents and other tangible evidence that is relevant to the case. |
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| a written command requiring a witness to come to court to testify and at that time to produce for use as evidence the papers, documents, books, or records listed in the subpoena |
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| written statements concerning a case, directed to an adverse party, that he or she is required to admit or day. Such admissions or denials will be treated by the court as having been established, and need not be proven at trial. |
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| an application made to a court for the purpose of obtaining an order or rule directing something to be done in favor of the applicant. |
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| motion for summary judgment |
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Definition
| an application made to the court requesting that the action be disposed of without further proceedings |
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Definition
| a motion made before the commencement of a trail that requests the court to prohibit the adverse party from introducing prejudicial evidence at trial. |
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| a hearing or determination by a court of the issues existing between the parties to an action. |
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| a trial before a judge without a jury |
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| a trial in which the jurors are the judges of the facts and the court is the judge of the law. |
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| a process by which the lawyers for both parties examine potential jurors to determine whether they are qualified and acceptable to act as jurors in the case. |
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