| A | B |
|---|
| Amendment | Change to the Constitution. |
| Beyond a reasonable doubt | Juries must not vote to convict if there is any question about whether a defendant is guilty. |
| Bill of Rights | The first ten amendments to the Constitution, defining and guaranteeing fundamental rights and liberties, such as freedoms of religion, speech, and press and the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. |
| Checks and balances | System designed to prevent one branch from becoming too powerful and abusing its power. |
| Civil action | A lawsuit that can be brought by a person who feels wronged or injured by another person. |
| Civil laws | Regulate relations between individuals or groups of individuals. |
| Convention on the Rights of the Child | UN major treaty that spells out basic human rights to which children everywhere are entitled, including the right to education and to be free from exploitation. |
| Criminal laws | Regulate public conduct and set out duties owed to society. |
| Defendant | Person accused of committing a crime in a criminal case or person or company targeted in a civil case. |
| Eighteenth Amendment | Passed to prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages in the US. |
| Equal Rights Amendment | Passed by Congress in 1972, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, it failed to be ratified by the required 3/4 of the states. |
| Executive branch | Primarily responsible for the enforcing of laws in the US and includes the president and federal agencies. |
| Federalism | Division of power between he states and the federal government . |
| Felonies | Most serious crimes, like murder or robbery, that carry a penalty of more than one year in prison. |
| Human rights | Rights all people have simply because they are human beings. |
| International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | UN major treaty that protects the freedoms of speech, religion, and press and the right to participate in government. |
| International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights | UN major treaty that provides for the right to adequate education, food, housing, health care, protection of property, and employment in safe conditions at an adequate salary. |
| Judicial branch | Clarifies and, in some instances, established laws through its rulings; the courts. |
| Judicial review | Enables a court to declare unenforceable any law passed by Congress or a state legislature that conflicts with the US Constitution. |
| Law | Rules and regulations that regulate the conduct of people within a society. |
| Legislative branch | Lawmaking branch of the US government, otherwise known as Congress. |
| Limited government | Fundamental notion of the US Constitution that defines the roles of the national and states' powers in relation to one another and the three branches of government. |
| Misdemeanors | Less serious crimes, like assault or minor theft, that carry a prison term of one year or less. |
| Plaintiff | Person or company harmed against a defendant in a civil case. |
| Preponderance of the evidence | In a civil case, a jury or judge must decide whether it is more likely than not that the plaintiff's complaint is true. |
| Prosecutor | Person or persons responsible for proving charges against a defendant beyond a reasonable doubt. |
| Ratify | Approve. |
| Reservations | Legal way of making a provision less enforceable than it might otherwise be on a treaty or other agreement. |
| Rule of law | Legal system requiring that the rules by which we are governed be known in advance and created through democratic processes. |
| Separation of powers | The division of the US government into three branches. |
| Statutes | Another name for laws |
| Unconstitutional | Condition when the government has passed a law the Constitution does not give it the power to pass or government has passed a law that violates somebody's rights. |
| Universal Declaration of Human Rights | A statement of basic human rights and standards for government that has been agreed to by almost every country in the world. |
| US Constitution | Highest law in the US and the longest-lasting written one of its kind in the world, listing the government's powers, limits on those powers, and the people's freedoms that cannot be taken away by the government. |
| USA Patriot Act | Federal law designed to protect the US against terrorist attacks. |
| Veto | Refusal to approve. |
