Glossary
This glossary may be used to find the definitions of many legal terms.
In many instances, there are synonyms and plain language options provided for the terms.
You may search within this glossary:
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A combination of these search options can be used to provide a more defined result.
Note that this glossary may not contain all legal terms.
| Term | Definition | Plain Language | Synonyms | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moot | Unsettled? undecided? a moot point is one not settled by judicial decisions? a moot case is one that seeks to determine an abstract question which does not arise upon existing facts. | uncertain | unsettled, undecided, uncertain, irrelevant | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Moral turpitude | Conduct contrary to honesty, modesty or good morals. | immoral behavior | bad repute, immoral conduct | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Motion | 1. Oral or written request before, during or after a trial on which a court issues a ruling or order. 2. A request that a party makes to the judge for a ruling or an order on a particular point. | written request | written request to the judge/court | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Murder | 1. The unlawful killing of a human being by another with malice aforethought, either express or implied. 2. The unlawful killing of a person by another with premeditated malice. | killing or to kill | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| Negligence | The failure to do something which a reasonable person, guided by ordinary considerations, would do? the doing of something which a reasonable and prudent person would not do. | neglect, carelessness | carelessness, breach of duty, recklessness, irresponsibility | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Next friend | One acting for the benefit of an infant or other person without being regularly appointed as guardian. Person who represents a minor or incompetent person in court. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| No bill | This phrase, endorsed by a grand jury on the indictment, is equivalent to "not found" or "not a true bill"? in the opinion of the jury, evidence was insufficient to warrant the return of a formal charge. | no indictment by Grand Jury | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| No contest plea | Party/parties do not admit the allegations. They will not challenge or object to the charges/allegations filed against them. Does not admit guilt, but accepts the punishment as if they were guilty. | no objection to charges | General Terms, News Reporter Guide | ||
| Nolo contendere | 1. No contest. A plea of nolo contendere has the same effect on a criminal sentence as a plea of guilty, but may not be taken as an admission of guilt for any other possible case. 2. I will not fight (contest it); criminal plea neither admitting nor denying the charges, but which may result in a fine or sentence anyway; this avoids future liability in any civil action brought on the same facts. 3. A pleading usually used by defendants in criminal cases? literally means "I will not contest it". | no contest | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| Notary Public | A person authorized by law and specifically designated to administer oaths, certify and authenticate specific documents, and perform other prescribed acts. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide | |||
| Oath | Written or oral pledge by a person to keep a promise or speak the truth. | sworn promise | affirmation or promise of truth, sworn promise | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Objection | The act of taking exception to some statement or procedure in trial? used to call the court's attention to improper evidence or procedure. | challenge | argument, disagreement, challenge, protest | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Opinion | A formal statement by a judge or justice of the law bearing on a case. | conclusion | judicial decision, authoritative statement, conclusion, decree, final judgment, order, ruling | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Ordinance | 1. A law passed by a city or town lawmaking body. 2. The local legislation of a city, town, village, or county written by the local legislative body. | local laws | local code, local laws | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Parole | The conditional release of a convict from prison before the expiration of his or her sentence. If he or she meets the conditions, the parolee does not have to serve the remainder of the sentence. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide | |||
| Parties | The persons who are actively concerned in the prosecution or defense of a legal proceeding. | participants | litigants, agents, participants, actor, agent, people | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Per curiam | 1. A phrase used to distinguish an opinion of the whole court from an opinion written by any one judge. 2. By the court; brief announcement of case disposition not accompanied by a written opinion; opinion of an appellate court en banc, as opposed to an opinion written by a single judge. | agreed on by the whole court | unanimous, agreed | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Peremptory challenge | 1. The challenge which the prosecution or defense may use to reject a certain number of prospective jurors without giving reason. | reject a juror without a reason | reject for no reason | General Terms, News Reporter Guide | |
| Perjury | 1. A false statement made on purpose while under oath in a court proceeding. 2. The crime of intentionally lying after taking an oath to tell the truth by a notary public, court clerk or other official. 3. The willful assertion as to a matter of fact, opinion, belief or knowledge, made by a witness in a judicial proceeding as part of his or her evidence, whether upon oath or in any form allowed by law to be substituted for an oath, and known to such witness to be false. | lying under oath | lying under oath, dishonesty | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Personal representative | 1. The individual(s) or corporation appointed by the court to take care of the property and debts of a deceased person. The Nebraska Probate Code replaced the terms “Executor” and “Administrator” with the term “Personal Representative”. 2. Includes executor, administrator, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same functions in decedents' estates. | General Terms, Guardian and Conservator, Estates, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Petition | 1. Written application to a court requesting a remedy available under law. 2. In a civil case, a court paper that asks the court to take some kind of action. 3. In Juvenile cases - A written document filed by the prosecutor specifying which subdivision of § 43-247 is alleged and requesting that the child be corrected and cared for pursuant to law. |
request, application | written request to a court, Application, request, plea | Court Reporting, General Terms, Juvenile, News Reporter Guide | |
| Plaintiff | The person who files a lawsuit. The person who brings an action; the party who complains or sues in a personal action and is so named on the record. | accuser, suer | accuser, complainant | General Terms, Domestic Relations, Small Claims, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Plea | 1. Document presented to a court by a plaintiff which cites alleged wrong-doing on the part of a defendant and requests specific relief. 2. A defendant's official statement of "guilty" or "not guilty" or to the charges made against them. | answer, response | application, claim, pleading | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Plea bargaining (or negotiation) | Negotiation between the prosecuting attorney and the person accused of a crime or that person's lawyer to exchange a guilty plea for conviction of a lesser charge, if the court approves. | agreement | agreement | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Pleading | 1. Written statement filed with the court that describes a party's legal or factual claims about the case and what the party wants from the court. 2. The process by which the parties in a suit or action alternately present written statements of their contentions, each responsive to that which precedes, and each serving to narrow the field of controversy, until there evolves a specific point or points, affirmed on one side and denied on the other, called the "issue" upon which they then go to trial. | complaint | formal statement, complaint | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Post conviction | In criminal cases those matters occurring after conviction. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Power of Attorney | A document where a person authorizes someone else to take care of business for him or her, either generally or within a set of terms and limitations. The person who acts on behalf of someone else is called the agent or an attorney-in-fact (not an attorney at law). | authority | authority, appointment | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Praecipe | 1. A request directed to the court clerk, requesting issuance of a particular writ. 2. An original writ commanding the defendant to do the thing required; an order addressed to the clerk of a court, requesting him or her to issue a particular writ. | written request | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | ||
| Pre-sentence Investigation (PSI)/ Pre-sentence Report (PSR) | Investigation of defendant completed by probation; contains personal information, criminal history, and screenings; designed to provide information to the Court for sentencing purposes. The PSI is confidential. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide | |||
| Precedent | A court decision made in an earlier case which establishes a rule that judges will typically follow when deciding a similar current case. | prior reported opinion | instance, model, prior reported opinion | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Preliminary hearing | A court proceeding to determine whether there is enough criminal evidence to hold a trial against someone. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Preponderance of evidence | Greater weight of evidence or evidence which is more credible and convincing to the mind, not necessarily the greater number of witnesses; the standard of proof usually required in civil actions. | prove more likely than not | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| Prima facie | 1. first appearance; at first sight, on the fact of it, it appears to be so 2. So far as can be judged from the disclosure; presumably; a fact presumed to be true unless disproved by some evidence to the contrary. | clear | clear, obvious, plain, appearing | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Pro bono (pro bono Publico) | 1. For the good (for the public good); 2. Legal services provided without attorney fees. | done for free | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| Pro se | 1. Legal representation of oneselves. 2. Refers to persons that present their own cases in court without lawyers; from the Latin for "on one's own behalf." | person who presents their own case | SRL, self-represented litigant, | General Terms, Domestic Relations, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Pro tem. (pro tempore) | 1. For a time; temporary substitute, provisionally. 2. "Temporary." public defender. A lawyer employed by the government to represent a person accused of a crime who cannot afford a lawyer for his or her defense. | temporarily | for the time being | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Probable cause | 1. Sufficient reason for law enforcement agents to obtain a search warrant or detain someone suspected of committing a crime. 2. A constitutionally prescribed standard of proof; a reasonable ground for belief in the existence of certain facts. | reasonable belief | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | ||
| Probate | The court proceedings in which the probate court has jurisdiction over (a) the personal representative, and (b) the assets of the deceased person. The purposes of probate are (1) to protect the heirs from fraud and embezzlement; (2) to protect the federal and state governments so that all taxes are paid by the estate; and (3) to protect the creditors of the deceased person so that they are paid. Probate states with the will being admitted to formal or informal probate. Probate ends after all taxed are paid, creditors are paid and assets are accounted for and distributed as provided in the will. | General Terms, Guardian and Conservator, Estates, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Probation | 1. A criminal court sentence that releases a person into the community under supervision and certain conditions. 2. In modern criminal administration, allowing a person convicted of an offense (particularly juvenile offenders) to go at large under a suspension of sentence, during good behavior, and generally under the supervision or guardianship of a probation officer. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Prosecution | Act of pursing a lawsuit or criminal trial. | taking a case to court | pursuit, undertaking | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Prosecutor | A lawyer who represents the government in bringing legal proceedings against an alleged wrongdoer. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Quash | To overthrow, vacate; to annul or void a summons or indictment. | void, stop | overrule, vacate, veto, void Set aside, vacate, stop | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Reasonable doubt | An accused person is entitled to acquittal if, in the minds of the jury, his or her guilt has not been proved beyond a "reasonable doubt"? that state of minds of jurors in which they cannot say they feel an abiding conviction as to the truth of the charge. | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |||
| Recuse | 1. To excuse or disqualify (oneself) or be excused from a criminal or civil proceeding because of conflict of interest. For example, a judge may recuse themself from a case because of personal or professional involvement with 1 or more of the parties. 2. To disqualify oneself as a judge in a particular case. | withdraw | excused from, disqualify, uninvolve, withdraw | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Referee | A judicial officer at the trial court level to whom a cause pending in a court is referred by the court to take testimony, hear the parties, and report thereon to the court; in the Nebraska court system referees are primarily involved in delinquent child support matters. | neutral party | arbitrator, mediator, neutral party | General Terms, Domestic Relations, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Registrar | Court official designated to accept or reject applications for informal probate and informal appointment of a personal representative. | receiving clerk | receiving clerk, recorder, admissions officer | General Terms, Guardian and Conservator, Estates, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Release on own recognizance | An alternative to bail? release upon certain conditions set by the court. | personal recognizance, no bail required | signature bond, personal recognizance, judicial public bail | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Remand | To send back. | imprison | imprison, commit, detain, hold, incarcerate, lock up | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting | |
| Reply | When a case is tried or argued in court, the argument of the plaintiff in answer to that of the defendant; a pleading in response to an answer. | answer | answer, response, counter | General Terms, News Reporter Guide, District Court Civil, County Court Civil, Court Reporting | |
| Respondent | 1. The party against whom a motion or petition is filed (this term is only used in protection order cases). 2. Party against whom an appeal is brought in an appellate court? the prevailing party in the trial court case. | defendant | defendant, accused person | General Terms, Domestic Relations, News Reporter Guide, Court Reporting |