General (not jurisdiction-specific)

A complaint whose allegations are sworn to or declared true under penalty of perjury.

The party responding to an appeal.

The heading of a court document identifying the court, the parties, the case number and the document title.

Describes an order made during a case that is not a final judgment.

The court’s official record of filings and events in a case.

The level of deference an appellate court gives to the lower court’s decision on a particular issue.

The court officer who maintains records, accepts filings and performs duties assigned by the rules, such as entering defaults.

A prior court decision that guides or controls later cases on similar issues.

A proceeding before a judge or other judicial officer to consider a motion, a request or another matter. An evidentiary hearing takes testimony and exhibits; a non-evidentiary hearing hears argument on the papers already filed. Not every motion gets an oral hearing: a federal court may decide motions on the briefs without one (Fed. R. Civ. P. 78(b)).

Law a court must follow, such as a statute or a decision of a higher court in the same jurisdiction.