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What is a Court?

A public institution, often as part of a government, with the power to settle legal disputes and carry out justice in civil and criminal matters in accordance with law. Courts are central to both common law and civil rights legal systems, where the right to a trial by an impartial judge is a basic principle.

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The term derives from the root word coir, which means “to go to” or “to attend.” The words courtesy and courtship also derive from this word, giving us the sense of being courteous and having manners appropriate for royalty, as in “She showed up at his apartment with flowers and candy and wooed him over dinner at a fancy restaurant.”

In court, there are people on both sides of a dispute. There are attorneys representing them. There may be witnesses as well. A decision made by a judge in a case is called a judgment.

A person who brings a case to court is called a plaintiff or petitioner. The person on the opposite side is a defendant or respondent. Court cases take time to work through the court system. A pleading is the first document filed in a case, which gives the reasons for the suit. If a person is found incompetent to stand trial, the court will order him or her to be committed to a mental hospital. Each state has its own trial courts, and there are nationwide federal courts for matters such as taxes (United States Tax Court), claims against the government (United States Claims Court) and international trade (United States District Court for the District of Columbia). The Judicial Council provides policy guidelines to the courts and makes recommendations annually to the Governor and Legislature. New judicial members of the council are selected through a nominating process intended to provide for diversity in terms of experience, gender and ethnic background.