Common court phrases and legal terms are the shorthand judges, lawyers, and clerks use to move a case along without restating rules every time they apply. Many come from Latin or Old French; others are ordinary English words that carry a specific meaning inside a courtroom. The glossary below walks through the terms in roughly the order you’d encounter them, from a defendant’s first appearance through sentencing.
Arraignment and Pleas
An arraignment is a defendant’s first formal appearance before a judge in a criminal case. The court reads the charges aloud, and the defendant enters a plea.1Legal Information Institute. Arraignment
Three pleas are standard:
- Guilty. The defendant admits the charges and waives the right to a trial.
- Not guilty. The defendant denies the charges, and the case moves toward trial.
- Nolo contendere, or no contest. The defendant neither admits nor denies the charges but accepts the punishment. Unlike a guilty plea, a no-contest plea generally cannot be used against the defendant as evidence in a separate civil lawsuit.2Legal Information Institute. Nolo Contendere
Discovery, Subpoenas, and Continuances
Before a case reaches trial, both sides exchange evidence and information through discovery, a process designed to keep either side from being ambushed at trial. Two discovery tools come up constantly. Interrogatories are written questions sent to the other side, answered in writing under oath, and useful for locking down basic facts like dates, names, and amounts. Depositions are live, in-person questioning of a witness by an attorney, recorded word-for-word by a court reporter, and they allow follow-up and cross-examination on the spot.
A subpoena is a court order compelling a person to do something. A subpoena to testify (sometimes called a subpoena ad testificandum) requires someone to appear and answer questions. A subpoena duces tecum requires them to bring specific documents or records. Ignoring a subpoena can result in contempt of court.3Legal Information Institute. Subpoena
A continuance is a request to postpone a hearing or trial date. Attorneys ask for one when they need more time to prepare, when a key witness becomes unavailable, or when new evidence surfaces late. The judge decides whether to grant it.
Voir Dire and Jury Challenges
Voir dire is the questioning process used to select jurors before a trial begins. The judge, and sometimes the attorneys, question potential jurors about their backgrounds, opinions, and any personal connections to the case. The goal is to weed out anyone who cannot be impartial.4Legal Information Institute. Voir Dire
Attorneys can remove potential jurors two ways. A challenge for cause asks the judge to dismiss a juror because there is a specific, provable reason to believe that person is biased. There is no cap on how many for-cause challenges an attorney can raise, but the judge has to approve each one. A peremptory challenge lets an attorney strike a juror without giving any reason. Each side gets only a limited number of peremptory strikes, and they cannot be used to exclude jurors based on race or gender.
Phrases You’ll Hear During Trial
When a lawyer says “objection,” they are telling the judge that the other side just broke a rule of evidence. The objection might target a leading question, an attempt to introduce hearsay, or testimony that has nothing to do with the case. The judge then rules immediately with one word. “Sustained” means the judge agrees the rule was broken, so the witness cannot answer or the evidence gets excluded. “Overruled” means the judge disagrees, and the questioning or evidence continues.
Sometimes a legal dispute comes up that the jury should not hear. An attorney will ask to “approach the bench” or request a “sidebar,” both of which mean stepping up to the judge’s desk for a quiet, off-the-record conversation with the judge and opposing counsel. These conversations typically involve arguments about whether a particular piece of evidence is admissible, and keeping them away from the jury prevents jurors from being influenced before the judge decides.5Legal Information Institute. Approach
When a witness blurts out inadmissible information before an objection can stop them, the judge may order the court to “strike that from the record.” The court reporter marks the statement so it no longer counts as official evidence, and jurors are told to disregard what they heard. The instruction matters because it removes the statement from the written record an appeals court would later review.6Legal Information Institute. Motion to Strike
Contempt of court is what a judge declares when someone disobeys a court order or disrupts proceedings. It comes in two forms. Civil contempt is meant to force compliance, and the person held in contempt can end the penalty by doing what the court ordered. Criminal contempt is punishment for the disobedience itself, and the penalty is fixed regardless of whether the person later complies. Either type can carry fines or jail time.7Legal Information Institute. Contempt of Court
Burdens of Proof
A burden of proof is the standard a party must meet to win. Different types of cases demand different levels of certainty, driven by the stakes involved.
Beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest standard in the legal system and applies to criminal trials. It requires that the evidence leave jurors firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt. This does not mean the prosecution must eliminate every conceivable possibility of innocence, but any remaining doubt must be based on reason and common sense, not speculation.8Ninth Circuit District and Bankruptcy Courts. Reasonable Doubt Defined The standard is this high because a criminal conviction can mean prison time.9Legal Information Institute. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Civil lawsuits use a lower bar called preponderance of the evidence. This standard asks whether the claim is more likely true than not, sometimes described as anything above a 50 percent probability. It applies to most contract disputes and personal injury cases, where the consequence is a money judgment rather than incarceration.10Legal Information Institute. Preponderance of the Evidence
Clear and convincing evidence sits between the other two. It requires the evidence to be highly probable, not just slightly more likely than not. Courts apply this standard in cases with especially serious consequences that fall short of criminal punishment, such as terminating parental rights, civil fraud claims, and decisions about withdrawing life support.11Legal Information Institute. Clear and Convincing Evidence
Prima facie means “at first sight.” A prima facie case exists when a party presents enough evidence on its face to support a verdict in their favor, assuming the other side offers nothing to counter it. Once a prima facie case is established, the burden shifts to the opposing party to rebut it.12Legal Information Institute. Prima Facie
Latin Terms You’ll Hear Across Proceedings
Pro se means representing yourself in court without a lawyer. The term translates to “for oneself,” and anyone who goes to court without an attorney is called a pro se litigant.13Legal Information Institute. Pro Se Pro bono, short for pro bono publico (“for the public good”), describes legal work an attorney performs for free. Pro bono representation is volunteered, not court-appointed, and is typically offered to clients who otherwise could not afford a lawyer.14Legal Information Institute. Pro Bono
Habeas corpus translates to “you have the body.” It is a legal action that forces the government to justify why someone is being held in custody. If the government cannot show a lawful reason for the detention, the person must be released.15Legal Information Institute. Habeas Corpus
Amicus curiae means “friend of the court.” An amicus is a person or organization that is not a party to the lawsuit but volunteers or is invited to submit a brief offering expertise or a perspective the court might not otherwise hear.16Legal Information Institute. Amicus De novo review happens when a higher court looks at a case from scratch, giving no weight to the lower court’s conclusions. It literally means “anew.”17Legal Information Institute. De Novo
In camera means “in chambers” or “in private.” When a judge conducts an in-camera review, they examine evidence or hear arguments behind closed doors, away from the jury and the public. Courts use this when dealing with sensitive information, such as determining whether certain communications are protected by attorney-client privilege.18Legal Information Institute. In Camera
Stare decisis means “to stand by things decided.” It is the principle that courts should follow the rulings of earlier cases when facing the same legal issue. A lower court is bound by the decisions of higher courts in its jurisdiction, and a court may also choose to follow its own past rulings. The doctrine is not absolute, and the Supreme Court has acknowledged it can depart from precedent when earlier decisions prove unworkable or badly reasoned.19Legal Information Institute. Stare Decisis
Res judicata means “a matter decided.” Once a court issues a final judgment on a claim, that same claim between the same parties generally cannot be relitigated in any court.
Rulings, Dismissals, and Case Outcomes
A case dismissed with prejudice is over for good. The plaintiff cannot refile the same claim. Dismissal with prejudice functions as a final decision on the merits, which means res judicata generally bars the same parties from trying again in a different court.20Legal Information Institute. With Prejudice A dismissal without prejudice is different. It ends the current case but leaves the door open for the plaintiff to fix any problems and refile.21Legal Information Institute. Dismissal Without Prejudice
Summary judgment lets a judge end a case before trial when the facts are undisputed and one side is clearly entitled to win under the law. There is nothing left for a jury to decide, so the court resolves it on paper.22Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 56 – Summary Judgment A directed verdict, now formally called “judgment as a matter of law” in federal court, does something similar during trial: if one side’s evidence is so weak that no reasonable jury could rule in their favor, the judge takes the decision away from the jury.23Legal Information Institute. Motion for Directed Verdict
Nolle prosequi is a prosecutor’s formal announcement that they are dropping criminal charges. The phrase means “not to wish to prosecute,” and a prosecutor can file one at any point before a verdict. It is not an acquittal. Because the case was never decided on the merits, double jeopardy does not attach, and the defendant can be re-charged later on the same offense.24Legal Information Institute. Nolle Prosequi
A mistrial occurs when something goes so wrong during a trial that the judge declares the proceedings invalid. A hung jury, where jurors are deadlocked and cannot reach a unanimous verdict, is the most common cause, but mistrials can also result from juror misconduct, procedural errors, or tainted evidence. A mistrial is neither a conviction nor an acquittal, so the case can be retried. When the deadlock comes from a hung jury, the judge may first issue an Allen charge, an instruction urging jurors to try harder to reach a verdict before giving up.
Sentencing: Concurrent and Consecutive
After a conviction, the language shifts to how punishment is structured. Two terms come up constantly when a defendant faces multiple charges. Concurrent sentences run at the same time. If a judge imposes a five-year sentence and a three-year sentence concurrently, the defendant serves five years total. Consecutive sentences stack end to end, so the same two sentences would add up to eight years.
In federal court, the default rule is that multiple sentences imposed at the same time run concurrently unless the judge specifically orders them to run consecutively. When sentences are imposed at different times, the default flips: they run consecutively unless the judge says otherwise.