Abandonment - a parent or guardian leaving a child without adequate supervision for the child's needs for an excessive period. Acquittal - a verdict after a trial that a defendant in a criminal case has not been proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime charged. Action - lawsuit brought by one or more individuals seeking redress for or prevention of a wrong or protection of a right. Actus reus - proof that a criminal act has occurred. Adjudicated - settled in a court of law. Adjudicated father - man determined by the court to be the father usually through a court action and genetic testing. Adjudication - giving or pronouncing a judgment or decree;also the judgment given.Decision made by a court or administrative agency with respect to a case. Administrative documentation - records such as case- related conversations, evidence receipts, description of evidence packaging and seals, and other pertinent information. Administrative review - an evaluation of the case report and supporting documentation for consistency with laboratory policies, editorial correctness and compliance with the submission request. Admissible - evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial. Adoption - legal proceeding in which an adult takes as his/her lawful child an individual usually a minor who is not the adoptive parents or natural offspring. Adversary system - trial methods in which opposing parties are given full opportunity to present and establish their evidence and to test by cross-examination the evidence presented by their adversaries under established rules of procedures before an impartial judge. Affidavit - a sworn statement by a witness. Affirmative defense - without denying the charge, defendant raises extenuating or mitigating circumstance such as insanity, self-defense, or entrapment to avoid civil or criminal responsibility. Affirmed - in the practice of the appellate court, the word means that the decree or order at issue is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court. Amicus curiae - friend of the court, a person who petitions the court for permission to provide information to the court on a matter of law that is in doubt or one who is not a party to a lawsuit but who is allowed to introduce evidence, arguments or authority to protect one's interest. Appeal - a request by the losing party in a lawsuit that the judgment be reviewed by a higher court.Request to a higher court to change the decision of a trial court, usually appeals are made and decided on questions of law only.Issues of fact are left to the trial judge discretion. Arraignment - in a criminal case, the proceeding in which an accused person is brought before a judge to hear the charges filed against him or her and to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. Arrest - process of taking a person into custody. Assault - intentional display of force that would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm. Attest - to bear witness; to affirm as true or genuine. Attorney-at-law - an officer in a court of justice who is employed by a party in a case to manage it for him. Bail - money or security given to secure a person's release from custody which is at risk should he/she subsequently fail to appear before the court. Bail bond - the obligation signed by the accused to secure his/her presence at the trial which he/she may lose by not properly appearing for trial. Bailiff - a court attendant who keeps order in the court room. Bar - the term means the whole body of lawyer's.Historically, the partition separating the general public from the space occupied by the judge's, lawyer's, and other participants in a trial. Battered woman syndrome - a collection of symptoms that are manifest in women who have suffered prolonged and extensive abuse from their spouses. Beyond reasonable doubt - the standard in a criminal case requiring that court be satisfied to a moral certainty that every element of a crime has been proven by the prosecution, all reasonable doubt are removed from the mind of the ordinary person. Bill of Particulars - a statement used to inform the defense of the specific occurrences intended to be investigated in trial and to limit the course of evidence to the particular scope of the inquiry.An amplification of the pleading. Booking - the process of photographing, fingerprinting, and recording identifying data of a suspect following arrest. Brief - a written statement prepared by one side in a lawsuit to explain to the court its view of the facts of a case and the applicable law. Brutalization - the proposition that the use of capital punishment actually increases the crime rate by sending a message that it is acceptable to kill those who have wronged us. Capital crime - a crime punishable by death. Case law - law created as a by-product of a court decisions made in resolving unique disputes as distinguished from statutory law. Case records - all notes, reports, custody, records, charts, analytical data, and correspondence generated pertaining to a particular case. Caveat - a warning; a note of caution. Certification - procedure by which a certifying body formally recognizes that a body or person complies with given qualifications. Chambers - a judge's private office. Child abuse - act of commission that is not accidental and that harms or threatens to harm a child's physical or mental health or welfare. Child neglect - failure of a parent or other person legally responsible for a child's welfare to provide for the child's basic needs and a proper level of care with respect to food, clothing, shelter, hygiene, medical attention , or supervision.Child neglect is an act of omission. Circumstantial evidence - that evidence that only suggests an association with a past occurrence.Any evidence in a case for which an inference is needed to relate it to the crime.Not observed by an eyewitness.Fact from which another fact can be reasonably inferred. Civil commitment - the legal proceeding by which a person who is mentally ill and imminently dangerous is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital. Closing argument - also known as final argument, attorney's final statement to the court summing up the case and the points points proven as well as those points not proven by opposing counsel. Common law - body of law based on judicial decisions (precedents or customs and usage) generally derived from justice, reason and common sense rather than legislative enactments. Competency - possession of characteristics that qualify a witness to observe, recall, and testify under oath; personal qualification of the witness to give testimony which differs from the witness ability to tell the truth.