Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 484 > Act 123 of 1867 - Telegraph Companies

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defendant: means a person charged with or convicted of having committed a serious misdemeanor against a victim. See Michigan Laws 780.811
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• month: means a calendar month; the word "year" a calendar year; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the words "year of our Lord". See Michigan Laws 8.3j
• Person: means an individual, organization, partnership, corporation, or governmental entity. See Michigan Laws 780.811
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Prisoner: means an individual who has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for having committed a serious misdemeanor against a victim. See Michigan Laws 780.811
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Prosecuting attorney: means the prosecuting attorney for a county, an assistant prosecuting attorney for a county, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, an assistant attorney general, a special prosecuting attorney, or, in connection with the prosecution of an ordinance violation, an attorney for the political subdivision that enacted the ordinance upon which the violation is based. See Michigan Laws 780.811
• Serious misdemeanor: means 1 or more of the following: