Legal Phrases Trivia Quiz

Answer: Corpus

"Habeas Corpus" and "Corpus Delicti." A writ of habeas corpus directs the government official restraining a person in custody to explain the authority by which that person is held. The right to the writ appears in the Constitution of the United States; it was borrowed from English Common Law. Corpus delicti is the principal in Anglo-American law which requires proof that a crime was actually committed before a person may be convicted of it. Under the rule, a criminal defendant's confession (without more) is insufficient if it is the only evidence that a crime occurred.

Answer: Custody

"Joint Custody" and "Custody Officer." In the dissolution of a family with children, the court must award custody of each child to one of the parents or, in particular cases, to both parents, the latter of which results in joint custody of the child or children. A custody officer is a jail guard, prison guard, detention worker or other person charged with the safekeeping and welfare of persons who have been arrested, detained, or sentenced to confinement by the government.

Answer: Witness

"Eye Witness" and "Witness Stand." An eyewitness is a percipient witness whose testimony is based on what the witness has observed with his or her own senses: sight, hearing, smell, et cetera. A witness stand is that place in a courtroom from which a witness testifies. It is sometimes also called the witness box and, more informally, "the stand."

Answer: Process

"Due Process" and "Process Server." Due process is the notion that one's rights to liberty and property ought not be deprived without adequate notice, an opportunity to be heard and the means to appeal. Deriving from the Magna Carta, due process became a part of the law of the United States through the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. A process server is a person, either a lay employee of business or a commissioned law enforcement officer, who delivers legal papers and attests to their delivery.

Answer: Jury

"Hung Jury" and "Jury Box." Jurors are instructed to strive for unanimous verdicts in criminal cases and for the requisite majority verdict (e.g. no less than ten of twelve jurors) in civil cases. If the jury is deadlocked in the sense of being able to achieve unanimity or the required majority, it is declared to be "hung" and the case is left undecided in that trial.

The area where jurors are seated during a trial is referred to as the "jury box" whether or not there are rails surrounding it to define its box-like nature.

Answer: Plea

"Guilty plea" and "Plea Bargain." In response to the filing of a complaint, indictment or information charging a person with a crime, the defendant normally enters a plea of not guilty. If, after investigation and negotiation, the defendant wishes to admit the commission of the crime, he or she may enter a guilty plea. Such a plea is often the result of a plea bargain where the prosecuting authority makes an offer to reduce the charge, dismiss some charges, and/or make a favourable sentencing recommendation, which offer the defendant accepts by entry of a guilty plea.

Answer: Public

"Notary Public" and "Public Defender." A notary public is a minor public official commissioned to witness, authenticate and attest to routine legal acts performed in the official's presence such as the signing of documents. Ever since the Supreme Court of the United States decided Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), lawyers have been appointed to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford to retain their own attorney. When the person appointed does this for a living, he or she is called a public defender.

Answer: Chambers

"Judge's Chambers" and "Chambers Conference." Most courtrooms are laid out with an office adjoining or nearby in which the judge vests (puts on her robe), studies and conducts meetings. This space is referred to as the judge's chambers. When trial counsel are called into chambers for a meeting, off the record and out of the hearing of jurors and the public, the meeting is called a chambers conference. Such conferences are sometimes for the purpose of attempting to settle a civil case without trial.

Answer: Law

"Common Law" and "Law Clerk." Common Law is a system of jurisprudence which holds that like cases should be decided alike and therefore looks to previous judicial decisions to "find" the law to be applied in a present case. This is the form of jurisprudence in England, Canada and 49 of the American states.

A law clerk is a person who assists a judge by doing legal research. Law clerks may be lawyers, people training to become lawyers or other lay persons.

Answer: Trial

"Bench Trial" and "Trial Brief." Two sorts of trials are possible in the Anglo-American judicial system: jury trials and bench trials, the latter being heard and decided by a judge sitting without a jury. The right to a jury trial in most cases is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. Lawyers sometimes prepare a memorandum called a "trial brief" which offers the judge an overview of a case about to be tried, with particular attention to any unusual issues of law or novel issues of proof which are likely to arise. Good lawyers do this routinely and good judges are routinely appreciative.