What they mean

Going through a court case can be quite taxing emotionally and even financially. The jargon that crisscrosses your ears doesn’t make the situation better. It would help if you got to understand the legal vocabulary in the process of your legal actions, as it would in one way or another help make communication faster.

We have laid out for you a number of legal terms to help you have some base:

Advocate – A person who holds a professional qualification in law and is allowed to represent someone in court.

Magistrate – A government official appointed by the government to hear cases in lower courts.

Complaint – A formal accusation against another.

Defense – A statement made by a party to a case in response to a claim made against them. It is normally in reply to a complaint.
Summon – A court order given to person to inform them that they must appear to a specific court at a specific time.

Chambers – The office of a judge or a magistrate. Normally sensitive matters are heard in the chambers, for example, a child’s evidence or a divorce matter.

Witness – A person called upon to give evidence in a case.

Affidavit – This is a sworn statement used mainly to support certain applications and in some instances as evidence in court.

Registry – A place where court files are kept and processed.

Binding Judgment – A judgment from a higher court that a lower court must rely on to make a decision.

Commissioner for Oaths – This is person authorized to take oaths in respect of the affidavits and other sworn documents.

Right – That which one is entitled to have or to do or receive from others within the limits prescribed by the law.

Appeal – This is the application for examination by a higher court of a lower court’s decision.
Cause of Action – The subject matter that has caused the dispute between the parties to a suit.

Suit – The proper name to be used when referring to a case.

Damages – Any sum of money awarded by the court for compensation for a wrong or loss suffered by a person.

Judgment debtor – The party that loses a case.

Prayers – Any compensation asked from a court.
Pleadings – A term used to refer to the collection of documents used during court proceedings.

Review – The re-exam nation of a decision by the same court that made it.

Summary judgment/Summary default – A process that enables one to obtain a judgment without the opposite party being allowed to defend the case.

Warrant of execution – A document issued by the court authorizing recovery of a debt through attachment and sale of property to satisfy a judgment.

Documentary – Anything written that can prove a fact alleged in court.

Ex-Parte Judgment – A decision made by a court of a matter brought before it in the presence of one of the parties to the suit only.

Stay of Execution – Temporary suspension of judgment pending determination of an application made by either party.

Memorandum of Appearance- the document filed when entering appearance by a party.

Civil jail – A jail used to confine a party to a civil claim for failing to take certain actions as ordered by the court. The confinement lasts for as long as the person refuses to comply with the court order. Not that this jail is different from a criminal prison.

Courtesy of FIDA’s Manual for Self Represented Litigants

END: BL21/62-63