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In court proceedings, a defendant is a
person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
or object who is the
party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...
either accused of committing a
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...
to another. In Scots law, the terms "accused" or "panel" are used instead in criminal proceedings and "defender" in civil proceedings. Another term in use is "respondent".


Criminal defendants

In a criminal trial, a defendant is a person accused ( charged) of committing an offense (a crime; an act defined as punishable under criminal law). The other party to a criminal trial is usually a public prosecutor, but in some jurisdictions, private prosecutions are allowed. Criminal defendants are often taken into custody by
police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
and brought before a court under an arrest warrant. Criminal defendants are usually obliged to post bail before being released from custody. For serious cases, such as murder, bail may be refused. Defendants must be present at every stage of the proceedings against them. (There is an exception for very minor cases such as traffic offenses in jurisdictions which treat them as crimes.) If more than one person is accused, the people may be referred as "co-defendant" or "co-conspirator" in British and common law courts. In some jurisdictions, vulnerable defendants may be able to get access of services of a non-registered intermediary to assist with communication at court.


Civil defendants

In a civil lawsuit, a defendant (or a respondent) is also the accused
party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featu ...
, although not of an offense, but of a civil wrong (a tort or a breach of contract, for instance). The person who starts the civil action through filing a complaint is referred to as the plaintiff (also known as the appellant). Defendants in civil actions usually make their first court appearance voluntarily in response to a summons. Historically, civil defendants could be taken into custody under a writ of '' caspian ad respondent''. Modern-day civil defendants are usually able to avoid most (if not all) court appearances if represented by a lawyer. Most often and familiarly, defendants are persons: either
natural person In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the b ...
s (actual human beings) or juridical persons (''persona fiction'') under the legal fiction of treating organizations as persons. But a defendant may be an object, in which case the object itself is the direct subject of the action. When a court has jurisdiction over an object, it is said to have jurisdiction ''in rem''. An example of an ''in rem'' case is '' United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola'' (1916), where the defendant was not the Coca-Cola Company itself, but rather "Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola". In current United States legal practice, ''in rem'' suits are primarily asset forfeiture cases, based on drug laws, as in '' USA v. $124,700'' (2006). Defendants can set up an account to pay for litigation costs and legal expenses. These legal defense funds can have large membership counts where members contribute to the fund. The fund can be public or private and is set up for individuals, organizations, or a particular purpose. These funds are often used by public officials, civil-rights organizations, and public-interest organizations.


England and Wales

Historically, "defendant" was a legal term for a person prosecuted for misdemeanour. It was not applicable to a person prosecuted for
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...
. O. Hood Phillips. '' A First Book of English Law''. Sweet and Maxwell. Fourth Edition. 1960. Page 151.


See also

* Asset forfeiture * Attribution (law) * Criminal procedure *
Trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...


References

{{Authority control Criminal law legal terminology