The Rhetoric of the Court Research Assignment

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The Rhetoric of the Court
The court, as an institution with the ability to settle legal disputes and administer justice, has a variety of vocabularies and strict procedures used on a daily basis. A court is a body presided over by a “judge(s)” (an individual who presides over court proceedings either alone or as a panel), or magistrate (a civilian officer who administers the law) and is a “tribunal” (a person or institution with authority to judge) in civil and criminal cases (Barnwell 21). Both parties in court are represented by their respective “attorneys” (a person who practices law), though self-representation is also acceptable. This paper will analyze the vocabularies used in the court, and the procedures followed.
In the court, criminal cases are processed in some certain order. They begin by the “defendant” (an individual or business against whom a lawsuit is filed) making an initial appearance in court and informed of the charges, in the presence of a private or public attorney. This process is referred to as an “arraignment” (Edwards and Travis III 38). This allows the defendant to take a “plea” (the defendant’s statement of guilty or not guilty or no contest), where the judge can then proceed to give further instructions based on the plea. In a guilty plea, the judge makes a guilt entry but in a not-guilty plea, the judge sets a trial date (Edwards and Travis III 38). This process is important to the defendant who receives advice from their attorney to ensure they are aware of their rights and are not forced into admittance of guilt. Moreover, a preliminary hearing is held and both the prosecuting and defendant’s lawyers present their testimonials and “witnesses” (a person called upon by either side in a lawsuit to give testimony before a court) before a judge. The seriousness of the offense and the strength of the “evidence” (testimonial information or documents that is used to persuade the judge to decide the case) provided are among the key factors considered by the “prosecutor” (one who tries a criminal case on government’s behalf) in determining whether the case should move to “trial” (a formal assessment of evidence by a judge before a jury to determine guilt in a case proceedings) or not (Neubauer 13). However, it is worth noting that in most court cases, the defendant’s lawyer and the prosecutor try to bargain in order to avoid a trial. Trials are costly and time-consuming and if justice can be administered without it, then the court can allow the presentation of a plea bargain before the case moves to trial.
A trial, in the participation of a judge or jury together with the prosecutor and defense attorney, is held in the event the defendant pleads not guilty. The accused is acquitted if the standard of evidence provided has reasonable doubts. The trial commences with the calling of witnesses by the prosecuting attorney. Witnesses take an “oath” (affirmation of what they say in court is true). The defense lawyer is also permitted to cross-examine the witness for relevancy. During this process...