Legal Dictionary

defendant

Legal Definition of defendant

Noun

  1. The person, company or organization who defends a legal action taken by a plaintiff and against whom the court has been asked to order damages or specific corrective action redress some type of unlawful or improper action alleged by the plaintiff.

Related terms


Definition of defendant

Etymology

    From defend +‎ -ant

Pronunciation

Noun

defendant (plural defendants)

  1. (law) In civil proceedings, the party responding to the complaint; one who is sued and called upon to make satisfaction for a wrong complained of by another.
  2. (law) In criminal proceedings, the accused.

Related terms

Further reading

A defendant or defender (Δ in legal shorthand) is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. (Note that American lawyers and judges often pronounce the word slightly differently than is common in standard American English, pronouncing the final syllable exactly as one pronounces ant---the name of an insect---in this pronunciation scheme.)

A defendant in a civil action usually makes his or her first court appearance voluntarily in response to a summons, whereas a defendant in a criminal case is often taken into custody by police and brought before a court, pursuant to an arrest warrant. The actions of a defendant, and its lawyer counsel, is known as the defense.

A respondent is the parallel term used in a proceeding which is commenced by petition.

A defendant is anyone tried under the court of law as the ones who have committed the crime. Historically, a defendant in a civil action could also be taken into custody pursuant to a writ of capias ad respondendum and forced to post bail before being released from custody. However, a modern day defendant in a civil action is usually able to avoid most (if not all) court appearances if he or she is represented by a lawyer whereas a defendant in a criminal case (particularly a felony or indictment) is usually obliged to post bail before being released from custody and must be present at every stage thereafter of the proceedings against him or her (they often may have their lawyer appear instead, especially for very minor cases, such as traffic offenses in jurisdictions which treat them as crimes). If found guilty, or if the defendant reaches a plea bargain or other settlement with the prosecution, the defendant receives a sentence from the presiding judge. This sentence, however, does not necessarily include the full punishment: social stigma of prosecution and collateral consequences of criminal charges may still affect the defendant.

References:

  1. Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Translation of defendant in Malay

Noun

person prosecuted or sued

  1. Defendan



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