| A | B |
|---|
| ordinance | a statute or regulation made by a local legislative body |
| equity | fairness, justice |
| civil law | the body of law that deals with the relations between people |
| real property | land and everything attached to it such as houses and barns |
| contract | a formal legal agreement between two or more individuals, businesses or other organizations |
| tort | a wrongful act that injures persons or their property |
| public law | the branch of the legal system that deals with the relationship between government and citizens |
| criminal law | the body of law that specified offenses against the public and the penlties for committing those offenses |
| juvenile justice system | a system separate from the criminal justice system that deals with persons under 18 accused of commiting crimes; it is intenet to rehabilitate rather than punish |
| bondsman | a professional lender of bail money |
| arraignment | the formal reading in an open courtroom of the charges against a defendant |
| plea bargaining | pre-trial negotiations in which the prosecutor tries to dispose of a case before going to trial by agreeing to reduce the charges if the defendant agrees to plead guilty |
| bench trial | trial by a judge rather than by jury |
| litigant | an adversary in a lawsuit or trial |
| plaintiff | the person who files suit in a civil trial |
| deposition | a formal interview given by a witness under oath before a trial is held |
| verdict | the decision in a trial |
| acquittal | a Court's decision that an accused person is not guilty |
| hung jury | a jury that cannot agree on a verdict |
| mistrial | a trial that becomes invalid because the judge believes fairness has been jeopardized or because the jury cannot agree on a verdict |
| sentence | the punishment decided by a court |
| probation | a sentence in which a person convicted of a crime does not spend time in jail but must follow certain restrictions |
| parole | the conditional early release of a prisoner who has served the minimum sentence |
| adversary trial | a trial in which the two opposing sides argue before an unbiased jury and a neutral judge |
