Criminal Defense Terms and Definitions

Tort An injury or wrong committed, either with or without force, to the person or property of another, for which civil liability may be imposed. Miranda rule The rule, pronounced in Miranda v. Arizona, that confessions are inadmissible in a criminal prosecution if the police do not advise the suspect in custody of certain rights before questioning. Dismissal without prejudice A dismissal which permits the plaintiff to sue again on the same cause of action or the state to proceed again. Dismissal with prejudice bars the right to subsequently bring an action on the same cause. Fourteenth Amendment Among other matters, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without adequate due process. Fraud An intentional perversion of truth; deceitful practice or device resorted to with intent to deprive another of property or other right. Embezzlement The fraudulent appropriation by a person to his own use or benefit of property or money entrusted to him by another. Fourth Amendment The 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects every person against unreasonable search and seizure by government officials. Battery Actual physical violence, whether serious or minor, inflicted on a person. (A mere threat is called assault, whereas the completed act is called battery) Burglary The unlawful breaking into or entering of a building or dwelling with the intent to commit a serious crime or theft. Circumstantial evidence All evidence of an indirect nature. Testimony not based on actual personal knowledge or observation of the facts in controversy.

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	Did You Know?
	Res Ipsa Loquitur - Literally, "a thing that speaks for itself." In tort law, the doctrine which holds a defendant guilty of negligence without an actual showing that he or she was negligent. Its use is limited in theory to cases in which the cause of the plaintiff's injury was entirely under the control of the defendant, and the injury presumably could have been caused only by negligence.