Legal Terminology A-B
Terms
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- Acquittal
- An accittal is a finding of not guilty, an absolution of guilt or a verdict of not guilty made by a jury
- Additur
- This is an additional amount of money conferred by the judge to the damage award provided by the jury. The judge will tell the winning party that a new trial will be granted unless the party agress to add a certain amount to the damage award. An additur should be distinguished from a remittitur
- Ad Damnum
- A statement in the complaint in which the plaintiff claims the right to receive a sum of money as damages is teh ad damnum clause. AKA a "prayer for relief" or "wherefore clause". It is usually the last paragraph before the attorney's subscription, or signature.
- Adjourn
- To end or postpone to a later time
- Administrative Agency
- agencies of the executive branch of government whose duty is to carry out statues and executive orders. Paralegals may often represent clients at administrative agency hearings under the authority of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. section 555 (1967)
- Administrative Regulations
- bind agencies and the public in certain areas. They consist of the rules of an administrative agency designed to explain and carry out the statutes and executive orders that govern the agency.
- Admissable Evidence
- Evidence that has been declared admissible by teh judge for usage in teh action is admissible evidence. Admissible evidence is evidence that has been admitted for consideration by the judge or jury as to its truth or falsity
- Admission and Denial
- After the defendant reads the facts alleged to be true by the plaintiff in the complaint, the defendant prepares and files an answer in which he or she may decide to admit the truth of some of the facts and deny the truth of others. When in doubt, the defendent often states that he or she is without sufficient information in which to admit or deny teh allegation and therefore denies the same. This is the most critical portion of the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's complaint.
- Admissions
- An out of courst statment made by a party to the litigation that is inconsistent with teh position the party is adopting in the litigation. An admission consititues an exception to the hearsay rule, which as the effect of making such statment admissible.
- Adversarial Hearing
- A hearing where both parties are present to argue their respective positions. This allows both sides in the controversy a chance to be heard and represent the essence of the American system of justice. This places the burden of proving or disproving legal arguments upon the parties in the litigation process rather than on the judge.
- Adverse Judgement
- A judgement or decision against the party that you and your attorney represent
- Affiant
- A person who swears or affirms under penalty of perjury to the truthfulness of a written statement; the person who signs the affidavit.
- Affidavit of Service
- A written statement sworn to by the affiant, saying that a party has been served wtih papers and stating the time and place details of the service; This document is usally notarized and returned to the court after service has been effectuated
- Affirm
- To uphold or establish
- Affirmation Defenses
- New factual allegations by the defendant not contained in teh plaintiff's allegations; usually contained in the defendant's answer to the plaintiff's complaint.
- Allegation
- An assertion, representation or averment
- Alternate Juror
- An extra juror who sits with the regular jurors and who may take the place of a regular juror if one becomes incapacitated or is otherwise biased during the trial