Abuse of discretion is a standard of review used by appellate courts to review decisions of lower courts. The appellate court will typically find that the decision was an abuse of discretion if the discretionary decision was made in plain...
courts
abuse of process
Abuse of process is a common law tort that involves the misuse of legal process(es) for an ulterior purpose. Abuse of process is one of several actionable offenses aimed at discouraging bad-faith litigation attempts. Indeed, courts hold the...
acceptance of service
Acceptance of service is defined as an agreement by the defendant (or the defendant's attorney) to accept papers or a complaint without having the papers served by a process server or a sheriff. Acceptance of service is accomplished by...
accusation
An accusation is informally stating that a person has committed an illegal or immoral act. An accusation is also formally charging a person with a crime either by a prosecuting attorney filing charges against or through a grand jury...
accusatory instrument
An accusatory instrument, similar to a criminal complaint, is a document which formally accuses a defendant of a criminal offense. Generally, this document must be signed by a party who has knowledge that the alleged criminal conduct took...
accused
"Accused" is a person who has been arrested for or formally charged with a crime. It is a generic name for the defendant in a criminal case.
This case from Tennessee, explains that a person becomes "accused" for purposes of...
acknowledge
1) To accept, recognize, confirm, or admit the existence or truth of something.
2) To validate an identity or claim.
3) To authenticate an instrument or writing by declaration or statement under oath by...
acknowledgment
Acknowledgement refers to a formal declaration before an official that one has executed a particular legal document. Some common usages of the term “acknowledgement” in a legal sense include:
Cases such as this one from Nebraska,...act
An act in the legal sense refers to either a voluntary bodily movement or a term for a body of law/proposed law.
In the criminal law context, an act is part of the concept of actus reus and, therefore, is a prerequisite to...
action
An action refers to a judicial proceeding. If a party brings a civil or criminal case against you, an action has been brought against you. The party bringing the action is the plaintiff /prosecution respectively.
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