Topical Vocabulary

1. Courts:trial courts, common pleas courts, municipal and county courts, mayors’ courts, courts of claims, courts of appeals, the State Supreme Court, the Court of Small Claims, the Traffic Court.

The Federal courts, district courts, the US Supreme Court, juvenile court, the US Tax Court, the US Court of Claims, the US Court of Customs, the Court of Patent Appeals.

2. Cases:lawsuit, civil cases, criminal cases, framed-up cases.

3. Offences:felony, misdemeanour, murder, manslaughter, homicide, rape, assault, arson, robbery, burglary, theft / larceny, kidnapping, embezzlement, bribery, forgery, fraud, swindling, perjury, slander, blackmail, abuse of power, disorderly conduct, speeding, petty offence, house-breaking, shoplifting, mugging, contempt of court, subpoena.

4. Participants of the legal procedure:1) parties to a lawsuit: claimant / plaintiff (in a civil case); defendant, offender (first / repeat); attorney for the plaintiff (in a civil case); prosecutor (criminal); attorney for defence; 2) jury, Grand jury, to serve on a jury, to swear the jury, to convene; 3) witness– a credible witness; 4) a probation officer; 5) bailiff.

5. Legal procedure:to file a complaint / a countercomplaint, to answer / challenge the complaint; to notify the defendant of the lawsuit; to issue smb a summons; to issue a warrant of arrest (a search warrant); to indict smb for felony; to bring lawsuit; to take legal actions; to bring the case to court; to bring criminal prosecution; to make an opening statement; the prosecution; the defence; to examine a witness – direct examination, cross-examination; to present evidence – (direct, circumstantial, relevant, material, incompetent, irrelevant, admissible, inadmissible, corroborative, irrefutable, presumptive, documentary); to register (to rule out, to sustain) an objection; circumstances (aggravating, circumstantial, extenuating); to detain a person, detention; to go before the court.

6. Penalties or sentences:bail, to release smb on bail; to bring in (to return, to give) a verdict of guilty / not guilty; a jail sentence; to send smb to the penitentiary / jail; to impose a sentence on smb; to serve a sentence; a penitentiary term – a term of imprisonment (life, from a few months to 25 years imprisonment); hard labour, manual labour; probation, to be on probation, to place an offender on probation, to grant probation / parole; parole, to release smb on parole, to be eligible for parole.

7. A court room: the judge’s bench, the jury box; the dock, the witness’ stand / box; the public gallery.

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