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In Common law, a defendant is any person who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff in a civil suit or any person who has been named in a criminal information or criminal complaint and stands accused of violating a criminal statute. A defendant in a civil action usually makes his or her first court appearance , voluntarily, in response to a summons whereas a defendant in a criminal case is usually taken into custody by a peace officer and brought before a court, pursuant to an arrest warrant. The actions of a defendant, and their counsel, is known as the defence. A respondent is the parallel term used in a proceeding which is commenced by petition.
Historically, a defendant in a civil action could also be taken into custody pursuant to a writ of capias ad respondendum and forced to post bail before being released from custody. However, a modern day defendant in a civil action is usually able to avoid most (if not all) court appearances if he or she is represented by a lawyer whereas a defendant in a criminal case (particularly a felonyA felony in many common law legal systems, is the term for a "very serious" crime; misdemeanors are considered to be less serious. Crimes which are commonly considered to be felonies include: aggravated assault, arson, burglary, murder, and rape. Those wh or indictmentIn the common law legal system, an indictment is a formal charge of having committed a serious criminal offense. In those jurisdictions which retain the concept of a felony, the serious crime offence would be a felony; those jurisdictions which have aboli) is usually obliged to post bail before being released from custody and must be present at every stage thereafter of the proceedings against him or her.
LawThis article is about law in society. For other possible meanings, see law (disambiguation). Law (a loanword from Danish-Norwegian lov , in politics and jurisprudence, is a set of rules of conduct which mandate or proscribe (or both) specified relationshi
