A Dictionary of Everyday Legal Terms

Legal terms in the news are rarely explained in the moment — here are the ones that come up again and again, in plain language.

Plaintiff · Defendant

In a civil case, the person who files the lawsuit is the plaintiff, and the person being sued is the defendant. In a criminal case, the person charged by prosecutors is usually called "the defendant" as well, sometimes distinguished as "the accused" before conviction.

Complaint · Report

A criminal complaint is filed by the actual victim (or their legal representative) asking authorities to prosecute; a report is filed by a third party who isn't the victim but wants the incident investigated.

Indictment · Declining to Prosecute

An indictment (being charged) is a prosecutor's formal decision to bring a case to trial; declining to prosecute means the prosecutor decided not to pursue charges, often for insufficient evidence.

Dismissed · Rejected · Granted

A case can be dismissed without ever being decided on the merits (usually for a procedural defect), have its claim rejected after the merits were considered but found unpersuasive, or be granted if the claim is accepted.

Intent · Negligence

Acting with intent means causing an outcome on purpose, knowing what would happen; negligence means causing an outcome by failing to exercise reasonable care, without meaning for it to happen. The distinction is central to how much responsibility a person or company is held to bear.

Claim · Debt

A claim (or receivable) is the right to demand something from someone else; a debt is the corresponding duty to provide it. In a loan, the lender holds the claim and is the creditor, while the borrower carries the debt and is the debtor.

Joint and Several Guarantee

A joint and several guarantee holds the guarantor equally liable alongside the primary debtor — unlike an ordinary guarantee, the creditor can go straight to the guarantor for payment without pursuing the primary debtor first, which makes this kind of guarantee considerably riskier to sign.

Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is a legal time limit after which a right can no longer be enforced if it wasn't exercised in time. The exact length varies a great deal depending on the type of claim and the jurisdiction, so it always needs to be checked case by case.

Appeal

An appeal challenges a first-instance ruling in a higher court; a further appeal to the highest court challenges the appellate ruling. Terminology and the number of appellate levels vary somewhat between legal systems.

Good Faith · Bad Faith (legal sense)

In everyday speech, "good faith" and "bad faith" describe intentions, but in law they usually describe knowledge: acting in good faith means not knowing a certain fact, and acting in bad faith means knowing it. This legal meaning has nothing to do with moral virtue.

Why Legal Vocabulary Varies by Jurisdiction

These terms capture concepts that are broadly shared across many legal systems, but the exact rules attached to each one — filing deadlines, procedural requirements, who counts as a party — differ by country and sometimes by state or region within a country. Treat these as a starting vocabulary rather than a substitute for checking your own jurisdiction's specific rules.

Reading Legal News More Confidently

A single news story about a court case will often use several of these terms together — a plaintiff filing a complaint, a defendant facing indictment, a court dismissing or granting a claim. Recognizing them individually makes it much easier to follow what a ruling actually decided, rather than only catching the headline outcome.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this legal advice?

No — this is general educational information about common legal vocabulary, not legal advice for any specific situation. If you're dealing with an actual legal matter, consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.

Why do "good faith" and "bad faith" mean something different in law than in everyday conversation?

Legal systems often repurpose ordinary words for precise technical meanings, and this is one of the clearest examples — the everyday sense (well-intentioned vs. malicious) gets replaced with a knowledge-based test (unaware vs. aware) that's easier to apply consistently in court.