The determination of a court of competent jurisdiction upon matters submitted to it.

Power to hear and determine a case; may be established and described with reference to a particular subject or to parties in a particular category, the geographic or political entity governed by a particular legal system or body of laws.

The science of law, the study of the structure of legal systems, such as equity, and the principles underlying that system, a collective term denoting the course of judicial system.

A legal scholar, one versed in law, particularly the civil law or law of nations; a judge.

A person sworn as a member of a jury; a person selected for jury duty.

A group composed of the peers of the parties or a cross section of the community, summoned and sworn to decide on the facts in issue at a trial. An ordinary trial jury is called a petit ("petty") jury. Its function is to determine issues of facts in civil and criminal cases and to reach a verdict in conjunction with those findings. While the number of jurors has historically been twelve, many states now permit six member juries in civil cases, and some states permit six-member juries to hear criminal cases as well.

A judicial officer of inferior rank, who presides in a court of statutorily limited civil jurisdiction and who is also a conservator of the commitment of offenders, as fixed by statute.

Tribunals designed to treat youthful offenders separately from adults. The purpose of this has been to replace the adversary nature of normal proceedings with concern for the child's well-being.

A minor who has committed an offense ordinarily punishable by criminal processes, but who is under the age, set by statute, for criminal responsibility.