Legal Terms Dictionary

 

 Legal terms are arranged alphabetically, click on the appropriate letter below...

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H

Habeas corpus - The name of a writ having for its object to bring a person before a court.

Harmless error - An error committed during a trial that was corrected or was not serious enough to affect the outcome of a trial and therefore was not sufficiently harmful (prejudicial) to be reversed on appeal.

Headnote - A brief summary of a legal rule or significant facts in a case, which along with other headnotes, precedes the printed opinion in reports.

Hearing - A formal proceeding (generally less formal than a trial) with definite issues of law or of fact to be heard. Hearings are used extensively by legislative and administrative agencies.

Hearing de novo - A full new hearing.

Hearsay - Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.

Hostile witness - A witness whose testimony is not favorable to the party who calls him or her as a witness. A hostile witness may be asked leading questions and may be cross-examined by the party who calls him or her to the stand.

Hung jury - A jury whose members cannot agree upon a verdict.

Hypothetical question - An imaginary situation, incorporating facts previously admitted into evidence, upon which an expert witness is permitted to give an opinion as to a condition resulting from the situation.

 

 

Sources: U.S. Courts - District of Idaho; Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida; Utah State Courts
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