The Judicial Process

This chapter introduces the basics of the judicial process, including descriptions of a typical civil lawsuit and trial and a typical criminal lawsuit and trial. The vast majority of lawsuits never reach trial but are either dropped by the plaintiff or settled out of court by the parties. In the federal courts, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence generally dictate the procedures and rules governing civil litigation, both for actions within the courtroom and for those outside the courtroom. Both civil and criminal cases can be tried before a jury and a judge or before a judge alone. The latter is known as a bench trial. Under the civil and criminal rules of evidence, opening statements cannot be argumentative and must be confined to the facts to be proven at trial. Evidence is the core of any trial, and thus the rules of evidence, both criminal and civil, are enormously complex.