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American Legal Vocabulary

Have you watched enough "Law & Order" to guess these American legal terms?
To make it easier, we give you a first letter
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: August 21, 2022
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First submittedDecember 13, 2017
Times taken30,885
Average score65.0%
Rating4.32
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Definition
 
Term
Judge's mallet
G
Gavel
Crime that is more serious
than a misdemeanor
F
Felony
Party that opposes
the defendant in civil cases
P
Plaintiff
To find not guilty
A
Acquit
Person who leads the jury
F
Foreperson
Where the judge sits.
"Please approach the _____".
B
Bench
Crime of lying under oath
P
Perjury
Money paid to be released
from jail pending trial
B
Bail
To separate the jury from
outside influence
S
Sequester
Formal reading of charges
against the accused
A
Arraignment
Definition
 
Term
The list of cases scheduled to be
heard by the court
D
Docket
To go to a higher court to seek the overturn
of a lower court's decision
A
Appeal
A jury that can't reach a decision is ....
H
Hung
Court authorization for a search or arrest
W
Warrant
Lawyer who opposes the
defense attorney in criminal cases
P
Prosecutor
Fact-finding process that occurs before a trial
D
Discovery
Testimony not directly observed. For example,
"Susie told me she saw Bob do it".
H
Hearsay
Writ that requires someone to appear in court
S
Subpoena
Award paid to the wronged party in a lawsuit
D
Damages
An action which causes harm for which
someone can be sued in civil court
T
Tort
51 Comments
+8
Level 73
Dec 13, 2017
Interesting. I think, although I'm not legally trained, most of these are also used in British Courts.
+6
Level 20
Jan 14, 2018
For the most part also applicable in English courts. We don't use gavels or have discovery though. We have a list rather than a docket and the process for sequestering is different. Finally, plaintiffs are now claimants - although that's a fairly recent change.
+2
Level 82
Apr 13, 2018
"List" is also used in American courts. "call the list" Docket usually refers to all the entries made in a particular case, but is also used as "is your case on the docket today?"
+2
Level 81
Dec 17, 2018
We do have discovery, and we used to call it that; now we call it disclosure. It's a pity the English system has moved away from the older language still in use in the States, but that's how the language has gone generally.
+2
Level 72
May 28, 2020
Well, I wouldn't know terms for things used only in the British justice system, such as wig powder.
+1
Level 66
Apr 18, 2018
At least in Canada, too, we don't use the terms "felony" and "misdemeanor". Instead they're "indictable offenses" and "summary conviction offenses", which is less cool.
+1
Level 81
Nov 4, 2022
The US legal system was based on the British legal system. Happy we could find some questions about the US you wouldn't complain about for once!
+1
Level 63
Feb 17, 2024
Most of these terms, or something very close, apply in pretty much all the Common Law countries.
+2
Level 69
Dec 15, 2017
There once was a Law & Order UK, starring Jamie Bamber (Apollo from BSG… his British accent sure caused me MASSIVE amounts of cognitive dissonance!). So we need another quiz to see if we Yanks watched enough L&O UK (is it still on? Spoiler alert: they killed off Apollo) to learn about the British legal system! I'm sorry to report that I'd only just figured out the difference between a barrister and a solicitor before I became permanently distracted by OH MY GOD, THOSE WIGS! and really never learned much past that.
+2
Level 72
May 28, 2020
Another fun difference: I thought it was a joke in "Blazing Saddles" when Marty Feldman addressed the Attorney General (Harvey Korman) as "Your Worship", but that is actually how British people address a magistrate.
+1
Level 74
Nov 4, 2022
I once asked an arbitrator whether I should address her as "Your Honor." She said "Your Excellency will do."
+1
Level 89
Nov 4, 2022
Marty Feldman wasn't in Blazing Saddles. You must be thinking of a different movie.
+6
Level 89
Dec 21, 2017
20/20! Perhaps I'm qualified to be appointed as a federal judge for the District of Columbia? ;)
+9
Level 87
Jan 5, 2018
You might even be overqualified, LOL.
+5
Level 70
Apr 13, 2018
Based on my many years watching Law & Order, I'm fairly certain I would pass the New York State Bar.

* Dun dun *

+1
Level 78
Feb 13, 2024
I've never watched "Law and Order" so only scored 17/20.
+2
Level 34
Apr 13, 2018
Absolve means to find not guilty too.
+1
Level 82
Apr 13, 2018
True, I thought of that as well, but it is not really used in the courtroom setting. Acquit is the better choice.
+9
Level 74
Apr 20, 2018
Who could ever forget, "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit?"
+5
Level 67
Apr 13, 2018
"Absolve" is not a legal term. The legal definition for a finding of not guilty is an "acquittal."
+5
Level 81
May 27, 2020
but Johnny Cochrane couldn't find a good rhyme for absolve... If the blood doesn't dissolve you must absolve? doesn't work.
+1
Level 66
Apr 13, 2018
I put sequest....is that not enough?!?
+5
Level 63
Apr 13, 2018
It's not, because the actual verb is "to sequester."
+1
Level 71
Feb 13, 2024
"Sequestration"?
+2
Level 70
Apr 13, 2018
Too much time.
+1
Level 69
Apr 13, 2018
Spelled tort ‘taut’. Oops
+1
Level 57
Apr 13, 2018
Penultimate question - since this is U.S. centric, how about "dollars" as an acceptable answer?
+2
Level 36
Apr 13, 2018
You may be seeking "specific performance"--a person to perform contractual duties they are uniquely qualified to perform (acting or music, for ex), or the return or transfer of personal or real property. Money sometimes is inadequate.
+2
Level 81
Apr 14, 2018
"dollars" is not a legal term
+1
Level 74
Nov 4, 2022
I offer, as Exhibit A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRbxHttZSM.
+1
Level 81
Nov 4, 2022
haha.. :-) Is that Duck Soup?
+1
Level 56
Apr 14, 2018
haha there was no way I was spelling subpoena right first time round
+1
Level 74
Nov 4, 2022
When I was eight years old I was forced to stay upstairs while my parents entertained their guests downstairs. I was so put out by this that I drafted a subpoena--I guarantee you that I did not spell it correctly--which I dropped down the stairwell for my parents to see. I didn't know what a subpoena was, but I knew it was something you didn't want to get.
+1
Level 95
Mar 25, 2020
Under the Federal Rules of Evidence and most state rules, the fourth-to-last term refers to any statement not made at the current trial or hearing that is offered as testimony to prove the truth of what is asserted in the statement, unless the statement was made by a witness and is inconsistent with the witness's testimony at trial, is consistent with the witness's testimony at trial and offered to rebut a claim that the witness is not telling the truth, or was made by a party to the case and intended as a truthful assertion. A statement that fits these criteria and does not fall within any of the listed exceptions is [the fourth-to-last term] even if it was directly observed and even if it is the witness's own statement. A better clue would be, "A statement not made during testimony at a current trial or hearing offered to prove the truth of what is stated."
+2
Level 82
May 27, 2020
Careful though, hearsay that fits an exception is still technically hearsay, its just allowed into the trial because of the exception. You also describe non-hearsay, such as a statement made by a party to the case and intended as a truthful assertion or adopted by that party as the truth, which you are correct that it would not fit the clue.
+1
Level 74
May 27, 2020
Is a deposition not a fact-finding process that occurs before a trial?
+2
Level 67
May 27, 2020
It is, but a deposition is part of discovery. As written, I think the clue is too broad to define "deposition." It would need to say something about an interview. If you ask a lawyer the term for the pretrial fact-finding process, they'll tell you it's discovery.
+1
Level 67
May 27, 2020
American judges don't actually use gavels. They may have at one point, but I've been in many courtrooms and I've never seen a judge who had one.
+2
Level 66
May 27, 2020
I don't have one. And prior to being on the bench I practiced in front of several dozen different judges. A few had them. Only saw them used a couple times out of thousands of hearings/trials. I don't wear a robe, either, unless it is something highly formal like a jury trial.
+1
Level 59
Jan 20, 2021
I'm a lawyer, although I haven't practiced in 20 years and they definitely have them in the courtrooms I've been in.
+1
Level 40
Feb 15, 2024
"although I haven't practiced in 20 years"
+1
Level 69
May 27, 2020
accept prosecution for prosecutor?
+2
Level 66
May 27, 2020
Bond should be accepted along with bail. It is frequently used interchangeably with bail (in current American jurisprudence) even when referring to money/cash bond/bail and not only when referring to security bond.
+1
Level 74
May 29, 2020
please accept fellony for felony, I know, I should learn to spell, but that isn't the discipline here right?
+2
Level 34
May 29, 2020
Please accept "prosecution" for "Lawyer who opposes the

defense attorney in criminal cases". As in the statement "The prosecution rests, your Honor."

+3
Level 67
Jun 1, 2020
I'll allow it.
+1
Level ∞
Aug 21, 2022
Ha! Prosecution will work now.
+1
Level 44
Oct 7, 2022
they just read... "not guilty", I've been to several live cases and i have never heard them say acquit.
+1
Level 91
Nov 5, 2022
But acquit has less syllables. And it's shorter.
+1
Level 75
Apr 12, 2023
I almost put bribe for bail.
+1
Level 66
Feb 13, 2024
Reading a whole lot of John Grisham books finally paid off!