| A | B |
|---|
| Bar | Physical barrier separating official and public spaces within the courtroom. |
| Bystanders | Spectators in the courtroom. |
| Contract | A written agreement between two or more people to do something. |
| Defendant | A person who is accused or sued. |
| Docket | The list of cases and other business scheduled to come before the court during a session. |
| English Common Law | The unwritten law of the central courts in London; a body of law and procedures guaranteeing the security of person and property. |
| Equity | A system of rules and procedures intended to deal with shortcomings in the common law. (Equity was used in colonial Virginia to protect children who had inherited property.) |
| Felony | A major crime punishable by death. |
| Gaol | British spelling of jail--holding area for criminal suspects until their trials; rarely used to punish convicted criminals. |
| Indictment | A formal written accusation charging a person with a crime. |
| Infant | A free person under the age of twenty-one; a minor. |
| Inquest | An official inquiry or examination. |
| Jury | A group of men summoned to assist the court by making a factual determination. (Any man who met the qualifications for voting could sit on a jury.) |
| Grand Jury | A group of twenty-four men summoned twice a year to inquire into reported crimes and return indictments of suspected individuals to be tried by the court. |
| Petit Jury | A group of twelve men summoned to determine factual matters before the court. |
| Oyer and Terminer | A special court convened to "hear and end" criminal cases. |
| Oyez | Hear ye! Attention! Usually cried out three times by a court official to command silence. |
| Perjury | The willful telling of a lie while under lawful oath to tell the truth. |
| Pillory | A public punishment device consisting of a wooden board with holes for the head and hands, in which convicted offenders were locked and to which their ears were sometimes nailed. |
| Plantiff | A person who brings a suit in court. |
| Statute | A law passed by a legislative body and set forth in a formal document. |
| Stocks | A device of public detention and punishment consisting of a heavy wooden frame with holes for a convicted offender's feet and, sometimes, hands. |
| Verdict | A formal decision or judgment. |
| Witness | A person who has knowledge of a fact and makes it known to the court. |
| Writ | A written order of the court directing a court official to carry out an action. |
