15 frequently used Terminology in Court cases

1. Petitioner – ‘Petitioner’ refers to the party who petitioned the Supreme Court to review the case. This party is variously known as the petitioner or the appellant in court cases .

2. Respondent – ‘Respondent’ refers to the party being sued or tried and is also known as the appellate. The respondent is the party against whom a petition is filed, especially one on appeal. The respondent can be either the plaintiff or the defendant from the court below, as either party can appeal the decision thereby making themselves the petitioner and their adversary the respondent.

3. Decree – “Decree” means the formal expression of an adjudication which, so far as regards the Court expressing it, conclusively determines the rights of the parties with regard to all or any of the matters in controversy in the suit and may be either preliminary or final.

4. Special Leave – Special leave petition or SLP holds a prime place in the Indian judicial system and has been provided as a “residual power” in the hands of Supreme Court of India to be exercised only in cases when any substantial question of law is involved or gross injustice has been done.

5. Civil Suit – A civil suit begins when a legal person claims that he has been harmed by the actions of another person or business and asks the court for relief by filing a “complaint”. Most of the civil suits are guided by the well settled principles of the Code of Civil Procedure.

6. Plaint – A Plaint is a legal document that contains the content of any civil suit which shows the Plaintiff’s claim after filing suit. The Plaint is the first step of the Plaintiff in the form of a legal document for the commencement of suit and it shows what a Plaintiff wants from that suit.

7. Rendition – A rendition is an act of rendering or handling a suspected and foreign criminal to the receiving state. Extradition is a legal proceeding where a court decides whether the criminal should be handed over to the receiving state or not. Rendition for most of the purposes is the same as extradition.

8. Defendant – In court proceedings, a defendant is a person who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Another term in use is “respondent”.

9. Convicted – In law, a conviction is the verdict that usually results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, “not guilty”). After a defendant is convicted, the court determines the appropriate sentence as a punishment.

10. Accused – The term ” accused ” has not been specifically defined in the code but what we generally understand is that the accused means the person charged with an infringement of the law for which he is liable and if convicted then to be punished. In other words, a person who is charged with the commission of offence.

11. Culprit – A culprit can be defined in several different ways. Initially, a culprit can be a person who is accused of a crime. Next, a culprit can be a person who’s been indicted by a grand jury of a crime. An indictment is a finding by a panel of uninterested (unbiased) people that there is adequate evidence to file charges against the person. In addition, a culprit can refer to a person who is waiting for trial. Thus, in this context, the culprit has been arrested and charged with a crime.

12. Inter alia – Latin for “among other things.” This phrase is often found in legal pleadings and writings to specify one example out of many possibilities. Example: “The judge said, inter alia, that the time to file the action had passed.”

13. Trial Court – Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. A trial court of general jurisdiction is authorized to hear some type of civil or criminal case that is not committed exclusively to another court.

14. Aggrieved – It means where any proceeding has already been initiated, aggrieved woman would be at liberty to file application in those proceedings to claim any of the reliefs under the Act.

15. Cardinal Principle – CARDINAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW OF EVIDENCE:

i) Evidence must be confined to the matter in issue.

ii) Hearsay evidence must not be admitted.

iii) Best evidence must be given in all cases.