In open court is a legal term in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
defined by the appearance by a party or their
attorney in a public
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
session such as during a
public trial
Public trial or open trial is a trial that is open to the public, as opposed to a secret trial. It should not be confused with a show trial.
United States
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the right of the accus ...
. Normally, the public may be present at trials, hearings and similar routine matters.
United States constitutional law
Under
Article III, Section 3 of the
United States Constitution:
In the United States, the
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
guarantees
criminal defendants
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one jurisdi ...
the right to a "''speedy and public trial''" under the
Sixth and the
Fourteenth Amendments. The Sixth Amendment also grants the defendant the right to appear on his or her own behalf requiring leave of the Court in complex criminal cases, and standby counsel may still be required by the judge.
Distinguishing rules
Many courts dealing with
minors, such as the
New York Surrogate's Court
The Surrogate's Court of the State of New York handles all probate and estate proceedings in the New York State Unified Court System. All wills are probated in this court and all estates of people who die without a will are handled in this court. ...
,
Probate Court
A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts o ...
,
Family court,
juvenile court, or widow's and orphan's court do ''not'' normally hold sessions in open court.
Appearance in open court is distinguished from an appearance in a
judge's chambers
A judge's chambers is the office of a judge, where the judge may hear certain types of cases, instead of in open court.
Description
A judge's chambers is the office of a judge, where certain types of matters can be heard "in chambers", also kn ...
.
[Ballentine's Law Dictionary, p. 378]
See also
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Admission
*
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 ...
*
Open court principle The open court principle requires that court proceedings presumptively be open and accessible to the public and to the media.
In contrast, ''in camera'' describes court proceedings where the public and press are not allowed to observe the procedure ...
*
Settlement conference A settlement or pre-trial conference is a meeting between opposing sides of a lawsuit at which the parties attempt to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of their dispute without having to proceed to a trial. Such a conference may be initiated thr ...
References
Judiciaries
Legal procedure
American legal terminology
{{US-law-stub