courts and procedure

An affidavit is a sworn statement a person makes before a notary or officer of the court outside of the court asserting that certain facts are true to the best of that person’s knowledge.

In a legal context, affirm is generally used to mean to confirm or ratify, although there are several related usages of the word. 

Typical uses of this word include:

An affirmative defense is a defense in which the defendant introduces evidence, which, if found to be credible, will negate criminal liability or civil liability, even if it is proven tha

• criminal law
• CIVIL LAW
• defense
• AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE

An affray is a common law offense which involves people fighting in a public place in a manner that disturbs the peace. 

After-discovered evidence, or newly discovered evidence, is evidence which existed at the time of the original trial but was only discovered after the conclusion of the trial. After-discovered evidence is an issue predominantly in criminal proceedings and may be used as the basis for a motion for a new trial. 

An agent is a person authorized to act on behalf of another person. The party an agent is authorized to act for is known as the principal. A principal-agent relationship can either be intentionally created or created by implication through one’s actions. 

For further information, see Agency Law. 

An aggravated crime or tort is one that is committed under circumstances that allow for increased punishments over what the crime/tort would usually receive. Circumstances necessary to raise a standard crime to the aggravated variant of that crime are typically laid out in statute. 

A party with multiple claims may wish to aggregate them to meet the jurisdictional amount (also known as amount in controversy) requirement for their desired court. The current amount in controversy requirement is $75,000. While this practice is generally not permitted, a few exceptions apply:

• civil procedure

The Aguilar-Spinelli test is a legal standard used in the United States to evaluate the validity of a search warrant based on information provided by an informant. It stems from two U.S. Supreme Court cases: Aguilar v. Texas and Spinelli v. United States.

An alibi witness is a witness that a criminal defendant calls upon to establish that they were somewhere other than at the scene of the crime at the time it occurred.