Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The party against which an action is brought.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Defensive; proper for defense.
- In law, making defense; being in the attitude of a defendant: as, the party defendant.
- noun One who defends against an assailant, or against the approach of evil or danger; a defender.
- noun In law, a party sued in a court of law, whether in a civil or a criminal proceeding; one who is summoned into court, that he may have opportunity to defend, deny, or oppose the demand or charge, and maintain his own right.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Serving, or suitable, for defense; defensive.
- adjective Making defense.
- noun One who defends; a defender.
- noun (Law) A person required to make answer in an action or suit; -- opposed to
plaintiff .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun law In
civil proceedings , theparty responding to thecomplaint ; one who issued and called upon to makesatisfaction for awrong complained of by another. - noun law In
criminal proceedings , theaccused .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person or institution against whom an action is brought in a court of law; the person being sued or accused
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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So far the FDIC, which, according to Bloomberg, doesn't sue unless it believes the defendant is able to pay up, has only filed one lawsuit related to the credit crisis, against IndyMac executives in July.
FDIC Ready To Sue Executives From Failed Banks Huffington Post 2010
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Especially when the defendant is an American citizen and his speech was published primarily within the United States, the entire logic of a First Amendment limit on libel would be eviscerated if plaintiffs could sue in London and then recover damages in the United States.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Nonrecognition of Foreign Libel Judgments 2010
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When the defendant and the victim arrived in Orange County, the defendant is accused of buying a boat and convincing the victim to sail to San Clemente Island to meet with ‘federal agents.’
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So far the FDIC, which, according to Bloomberg, doesn't sue unless it believes the defendant is able to pay up, has only filed one lawsuit related to the credit crisis, against IndyMac executives in July.
FDIC Ready To Sue Executives From Failed Banks Huffington Post 2010
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Does it change the analysis if a defendant is already properly legally charged and therefore already facing all the consequences of prosecution, as happens in all deferreds?
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"In Developer's Trial, E-Mail Note Cites an Obama Role" (Catrin Einhorn, New York Times) An e-mail message made public in the Rezko trial raised the possibility that Obama was involved in a state health planning board that the defendant is accused of improperly influencing.
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If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused, is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic of passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision.
Bête Voir 2006
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The judges in this country should throw out any case in which the defendant is accused of violating an unconstitutional law.
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"When you have four eyewitnesses that testify to someone under oath, you know what they call a defendant after that?" he asked.
NYT > Home Page By MATTHEW L. WALD 2011
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A defendant is free to accept or reject a proffered plea agreement, and an agreement whereby a defendant agrees to waive First Amendment rights as a condition of receiving an alternative sentence is not invalid solely for that reason.
ruzuzu commented on the word defendant
It wasn't the ant's fault!
December 25, 2009