In court proceedings, adefendant is aperson or object who is theparty either accused of committing acrime incriminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in acivil case.
Terminology varies from onejurisdiction to another. InScots law, the terms "accused" or "panel" are used instead in criminal proceedings and "defender" in civil proceedings.[1] Another term in use is "respondent".
In a criminal trial, a defendant is a person accused (charged) of committing an offense (a crime; an act defined as punishable undercriminal law). The other party to a criminal trial is usually a publicprosecutor, but in some jurisdictions, private prosecutions are allowed.
Criminal defendants are often taken into custody bypolice and brought before a court under anarrest warrant. Criminal defendants are usually obliged to postbail 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 anon-registered intermediary to assist with communication at court.[2]
In a civillawsuit, a defendant (or a respondent) is also the accusedparty, although not of an offense, but of acivil wrong (atort or abreach of contract, for instance). The person who starts thecivil action through filing acomplaint is referred to as theplaintiff (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 ofcapias ad respondendum. Modern-day civil defendants are usually able to avoid most (if not all) court appearances if represented by alawyer.
Most often and familiarly, defendants are persons: eithernatural persons (actual human beings) orjuridical persons (persona fiction) under thelegal 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 havejurisdictionin rem. An example of anin rem case isUnited States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola (1916), where the defendant was not theCoca-Cola Company itself, but rather "Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola". In current United States legal practice,in rem suits are primarilyasset forfeiture cases, based on drug laws, as inUSA v. $124,700 (2006).
Defendants can set up an account to pay for litigation costs andlegal expenses. Theselegal defense funds 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.
Historically[when?], "defendant" was a legal term for a person prosecuted formisdemeanour. It was not applicable to a person prosecuted forfelony.[3]
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