All Topics  
Legal case

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Legal case
 
 
  Topics Legal case Topic Home

A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court
Court

A court is a body, often a government institution, with the authority to adjudication legal disputes and dispense private law, criminal justice, or administrative law justice in accordance with rules of law....
, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil
Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which damages may be awarded to the victim....
 or criminal
Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
.There is a defendant and an accuser.

vil case, more commonly known as a lawsuit
Lawsuit

In law, a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, called the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy or equitable remedy....
 or controversy
Controversy (law)

In jurisprudence, a controversy differs from a Legal case; while the latter includes all suits, Crime as well as Civil law , a controversy is a purely civil proceeding....
, begins when a plaintiff
Plaintiff

A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy, and if successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate court order ....
 files a document called a complaint
Complaint

In general use, a complaint is an expression of displeasure, such as poor service at a store, or from a local government, etc. In legal terminology, a complaint is a formal legal document that sets out the basic facts and legal reasons that the filing party believes are sufficient to support a claim against another person, persons, entity...
 with a court, informing the court of the wrong that the plaintiff has allegedly suffered because of the defendant
Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally indictment or accused of violating a crime statute....
, and requesting a remedy.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Legal case'
Start a new discussion about 'Legal case'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court
Court

A court is a body, often a government institution, with the authority to adjudication legal disputes and dispense private law, criminal justice, or administrative law justice in accordance with rules of law....
, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil
Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, refers to that branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which damages may be awarded to the victim....
 or criminal
Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
.There is a defendant and an accuser.

A civil case

A civil case, more commonly known as a lawsuit
Lawsuit

In law, a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, called the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy or equitable remedy....
 or controversy
Controversy (law)

In jurisprudence, a controversy differs from a Legal case; while the latter includes all suits, Crime as well as Civil law , a controversy is a purely civil proceeding....
, begins when a plaintiff
Plaintiff

A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy, and if successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the plaintiff and make the appropriate court order ....
 files a document called a complaint
Complaint

In general use, a complaint is an expression of displeasure, such as poor service at a store, or from a local government, etc. In legal terminology, a complaint is a formal legal document that sets out the basic facts and legal reasons that the filing party believes are sufficient to support a claim against another person, persons, entity...
 with a court, informing the court of the wrong that the plaintiff has allegedly suffered because of the defendant
Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally indictment or accused of violating a crime statute....
, and requesting a remedy. A civil case can also be arbitrated through arbitration
Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a law technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound....
. The remedy sought may be money, an injunction
Injunction

An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order, whereby a party is required to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. The party that fails to adhere to the injunction faces civil or criminal penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions for failing to follow the court's order....
, which requires the defendant to perform or refrain from performing some action, or a declaratory judgment
Declaratory judgment

A declaratory judgment is a judgment of a court in a civil case which declares the rights, duties, or obligations of each party in a dispute. It is commonly called a declaratory ruling, a term which also includes decisions of regulatory government agency....
, which determines that the plaintiff has certain legal rights. Whoever wins gets either released from custody or gets nothing(Accuser).

The plaintiff must also make a genuine effort to inform the defendant of the case through service of process
Service of process

Service of process is the procedure employed to give legal notice to a person of a court or administrative agency body's exercise of its jurisdiction over that person so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal....
, by which the plaintiff delivers to the defendant the same documents that the plaintiff filed with the court.

At any point during the case, the parties can agree to a settlement
Settlement (law)

In law there are several main meanings of the word settlement. The most common meaning refers to when the parties to a dispute reach an agreement as to the case, which is said to 'settle' the claim....
, which will end the case, although in some circumstances, such as in class action
Class action

In law, a class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit where a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominately a US phenomenon, at least the US variant of it....
s, a settlement requires court approval in order to be binding.

A criminal case

A criminal case, in common law jurisdictions, begins when a person suspected of a crime is indicted
Indictment

In the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal accusation that a person has committed a criminal offense. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious criminal offense would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have abolished the concept of a felony often substitute the concept of an indictable offenc...
 by a grand jury or otherwise charged with the offense by a government official called a prosecutor
Prosecutor

The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the Civil law inquisitorial system....
 or district attorney
District attorney

In many jurisdictions in the United States, a district attorney is the local public official who represents the government in the Prosecutor of alleged criminals....
.

Like a civil case, a criminal case may also be settled before a trial through a plea bargain
Plea bargain

A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence....
, in some jurisdictions. If a person does not go to trial, he/she may endure even bigger penalties.

Common elements

Legal cases, whether criminal or civil, are premised on the idea that a dispute will be fairly resolved when a legal procedure exists by which the dispute can be brought to a factfinder not otherwise involved in the case, who can evaluate evidence
Evidence (law)

The law of evidence governs the use of testimony and exhibit s or other documentary material which is admissible in a dispute resolution ....
 to determine the truth with respect to claims of guilt, innocence, liability, or lack of fault. Details of the procedure may depend on both the kind of case and the kind of system in which the case is brought - whether, for example, it is an inquisitorial system
Inquisitorial system

An inquisitorial system is a legal system where the court or a part of the court is actively involved in determining the facts of the case, as opposed to an adversarial system where the role of the court is solely that of an impartial referee between parties....
 or an adversarial system
Adversarial system

The adversarial system of law is the system of law, generally adopted in common law countries, that relies on the skill of each jurist representing his or her party's positions and involves an impartial person, usually a jury, trying to determine the truth of the case....
.

Designation and citation

In most systems, the governing body responsible for overseeing the courts assigns a unique number/letter combination or similar designation to each case in order to track the various disputes that are or have been before it. The outcome of the case is recorded, and can later be reviewed by obtaining a copy of the documents associated with the designation previously assigned to the case.

However, it is often more convenient to refer to cases, particularly landmark and otherwise notable cases, by a title of the form Claimant v Defendant, for example Arkell v Pressdram. Where a legal proceeding does not have formally designated adverse parties, the form In re
In re

In re, Latin for "in the matter [of]", is a legal term used to indicate that a judicial proceeding may not have formally designated adverse parties or is otherwise uncontested....
, Re, In the matter of, etc. is used, for example In re Gault
In Re Gault

In re Gault, Case citation , was a landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision which established that under the Fourteenth Amendment, minor accused of crimes in a delinquency proceeding must be accorded many of the same due process rights as adults such as the right to timely notification of charges, the right to confront witnes...
. The "v" separating the parties is an abbreviation of the Latin versus
Versus

Versus, often abbreviated to vs or vs., may refer to:*in everyday English when two parties are opposed to each other in some way, e.g., a sporting event, we speak of one party versus another....
, but in Commonwealth countries is expanded "and" or "against" when spoken, as in Dickens' Jarndyce and Jarndyce
Jarndyce and Jarndyce

Jarndyce and Jarndyce is a fictional court case in Court of Chancery in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens.The case concerns the fate of a large inheritance....
. Where it is considered necessary to protect the anonymity of a natural person
Natural person

In jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being perceptible through the senses and subject to physical laws, as opposed to an Legal person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner....
, some cases may have one or both parties replaced by a standard pseudonym (Jane Roe
John Doe

The name "John Doe" is used as a placeholder name for a male party, in a legal action, case or discussion, whose true identity is either unknown or must be withheld for legal reasons....
 in Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade, Case citation , is a Supreme Court of the United States case that resulted in a landmark decision regarding abortion. According to the Roe decision, most laws against abortion in the United States violated a United States Constitution to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United Stat...
), or by an initial (D v D
D v D

D v D [2001] 1 FLR 495 was a Court of Appeal case determining the criteria necessary in disputes regarding Residence in English family law. The father was granted shared residence....
). The initial "R" may also be shorthand for the Crown
The Crown

Throughout the Commonwealth realms, the Crown is an abstract metonymy concept which represents the legal authority for the existence of any government....
, i.e. Rex
Rex

Rex is the Latin word for "Monarch" . Rex is an English language male given name.Rex may also refer to:...
/Regina
Régina

R?gina is a Communes of France of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department of France located in South America. With a land area of 12,130 km? , it is the second-largest commune of France....
 (R v Adams
R v Adams

R v Adams was a rape trial in England in 1996 which ousted explicit Bayesian statistics from the reasoning admissible before a jury in DNA cases....
). (For explanation of other terms that may appear in case titles, see the glossary of legal terms.)

See also

  • Case law
    Case law

    Case law is the general term for the principles and rules of law set forth in judge legal opinion from courts of law. Case law incorporates courts' decisions from individual legal case and encompasses courts' interpretations of statutes, constitution provisions, administrative law regulations and, in some cases, law originating solely f...
  • List of case law lists
    List of case law lists

    This list consists of lists of case law....
  • Early case assessment
    Early case assessment

    Early Case Assessment, refers to estimating risk to prosecute or Lawyer a legal case. Global organizations deal with legal discovery and disclosure requests for Electronically Stored Information "ESI" and hard copy paper documents on a regular basis....