Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 26 > Chapter 10 > Article IX - Authentication and Identification

• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• 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.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subscribing witness: means a person who sees a writing executed or hears it acknowledged and at the request of the party signs the person's name as a witness. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203