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Show 'New age ' issues now confronting the courts the parties, decides the case and the parties agree to accept that decision as final (generally less expensive and quicker). 21. Tort-private injury arising from breach of duty created by law. 22. Court clerk-enters cases on court calendar, keeps records of proceedings, etc. By SHERRIE EINFELDT Editor! note: Thn is the first in a series of article dealing with our complex judicial system. As Alexis de Toqueville observed in his treatise, ' 'Democracy in America," every question in American society will eventually come down to a legal one. Perceiving Perceiv-ing that to certainly be true today, as everywhere we look we are seeing more and more "new age "issues confronting our courts, we would do well to become better acquainted with our judicial system. This multi-part series will attempt to facilitate that learning process. Oftentimes, understanding the terminology being used in judicial matters is part of the challenge in comprehending the system. This first article will present a list of definitions of commonly used terms relating to the court system. 1. Grand jury a jury convened in a private session to evaluate accusations accusa-tions against a person charged with a crime and to determine whether the evidence warrants a bill of indictment. in-dictment. 2. Indictment-a written statement state-ment charging a party with the commission of a crime, drawn up by the prosecuting attorney and found and presented by the grand jury- 3. Arrangement the formal summoning of a prisoner in a law court to answer to an indictment. 4. Misdemeanor an offense of lesser gravity than a felony, for which punishment may be a fine or imprisonment in a local rather than a state institution. criminal trials, a prosecuting attorney at-torney acts on behalf of the state in role of plaintiff). 10. Criminal court-where persons per-sons are tried for offenses against the public or against written statutes that make specified actions a crime. 11. Civil court-where cases are brought concerning private rights and duties. 12. Small claims court -where disputes are brought between two parties, and where the disputed amount is less than $1,000 (usually attorneys are not present in these courts). 13. Statutory law statutes adopted by a state legislature or Congress. 14. Constitutional law laws or precepts in force based upon the state of national Constitution. 15. Administrative law-regulations law-regulations set out by state or national government agencies (i.e. Social Security administration). 16. Precedent the first time a court faces a new type of case, their decision in that case guides all future cases dealing with that particular par-ticular new question of law (called stare decisis). 17. Jurisdiction the scope within which a court has authority to hear cases (i.e. may be geographical, type of case, etc.). 18. Appe Li ate court that has authority au-thority to review decisions of an inferior in-ferior or lower court. 19. Juvenile courts where minors are tried for all infractions, using different sentencing guidelines, right of privacy, etc. 20. Arbitration method of dispute resolution where a neutral arbitrator (not a judge), selected by 5. Felony any of several crimes, such as murder, rape, burglary, considered con-sidered more serious than a misdemeanor misde-meanor and punishable by a more stringent sentence. 6. Convictionprocess of finding or proving guilty of a crime. 7. Acquittal-the judgment of a jury or judge that a person is not guilty of a crime as charged, 8. Defendant party accused of wrongdoing in a lawsuit 9. Plaintiff-party filing charges against another in a lawsuit (in |