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 and procedure
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...
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,...acquittal
An acquittal is a resolution of some or all of the factual elements of the offense charged. The trier of fact, whether the jury or the court, must render a verdict of finding not guilty of the charged offense. A not guilty finding is an...
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...
act of God
An act of God refers to a severe, unanticipated natural event for which no human is responsible. Despite its facial religious connections, the usefulness of the term means “act of God” is frequently used in otherwise secular statutory and...
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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