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 featur ...

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 Ca ...

criminal prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a

civil case - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...

. 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 constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and brought before a court under an arrest warrant. Criminal defendants are usually obliged to post

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

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

, although not of an offense, but of a civil wrong (a

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

or a breach of contract, for instance). The person who starts the

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

action through filing a complaint is referred to as the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of t ...

(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 Caspian can refer to: *The Caspian Sea *The Caspian Depression, surrounding the northern part of the Caspian Sea *The Caspians, the ancient people living near the Caspian Sea *Caspian languages, collection of languages and dialects of Caspian peop ...

''. 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 br ...

s (actual human beings) or

juridical person A juridical person is a non-human legal person that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, NGO or International (inter-governmental) Organization (suc ...

s (''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 ''United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola'', 241 U.S. 265 (1916), was a federal suit under which the government unsuccessfully attempted to force The Coca-Cola Company to remove caffeine from its product. Context In 1906, Har ...

'' (1916), where the defendant was not the

Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...

itself, but rather "Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola". In current United States legal practice, ''in rem'' suits are primarily

asset forfeiture Asset forfeiture or asset seizure is a form of confiscation of assets by the authorities. In the United States, it is a type of criminal-justice financial obligation. It typically applies to the alleged proceeds or instruments of crime. This ap ...

cases, based on drug laws, as in ''

USA v. $124,700 ''United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency'', 458 F.3d 822 ( 8th Cir. 2006), was a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that was handed down on August 18, 2006. The form of the styling of this case� ...

'' (2006). Defendants can set up an account to pay for litigation costs and

legal expense In English civil litigation, costs are the lawyers' fees and disbursements of the parties. In the absence of any order or directive regarding costs, each party is liable to pay their own solicitors' costs and disbursements such as a barrister's ...

s. These

legal defense fund In the United States, a legal defense fund (or LDF) is an account set up to pay for legal expenses, which can include attorneys' fees, court filings, litigation costs, legal advice, or other legal fees. The fund can be public or private and is set ...

s 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 resu ...

. O. Hood Phillips. ''

A First Book of English Law ''A First Book of English Law'' is a book originally written by Owen Hood Phillips and subsequently edited by him and Anthony Hugh Hudson. It was published by Sweet and Maxwell. F.R. Crane praised it for its "lucidity, accuracy, brevity and read ...

''. Sweet and Maxwell. Fourth Edition. 1960. Page 151.

References

{{Authority control Criminal law legal terminology

Criminal defendants

Civil defendants

England and Wales

See also

References