3.2 Civil, Family & Administrative Terms
Key Takeaways
- In civil litigation the parties are the plaintiff (or petitioner) and the defendant (or respondent), never the 'prosecution' and 'the accused' used in criminal cases
- A civil case proceeds complaint -> answer -> discovery -> motions -> trial -> judgment, and may end in a settlement, default judgment, or dismissal rather than a verdict of guilt
- Family law has its own register: petitioner/respondent, dissolution, custody and visitation, child and spousal support, and protective or restraining orders
- Immigration court is administrative: the respondent appears before an Immigration Judge for removal proceedings involving relief such as asylum, cancellation of removal, or voluntary departure
- Traffic and administrative hearings use citations, infractions, arraignment-like first appearances, and administrative law judges rather than juries
Why Civil and Administrative Vocabulary Matters
Court interpreters are assigned far beyond criminal court. A single workday can include a divorce hearing, a small-claims trial, an eviction, and an immigration master calendar. Each forum uses a different set of party names, filings, and outcomes, and using a criminal term in a civil hearing — calling a respondent "the defendant" in a family case, or saying "verdict" where the court says "judgment" — introduces inaccuracy into the record. The exam tests whether you can switch registers cleanly between these forums.
Civil Litigation
In a civil case, one private party sues another over a non-criminal dispute (contract, injury, property, money). The vocabulary differs sharply from criminal court.
| Civil Term | Meaning | Criminal Counterpart |
|---|---|---|
| Plaintiff | The party who files the lawsuit | (Prosecution / The People) |
| Defendant | The party being sued | Defendant / the accused |
| Complaint | The pleading that starts the suit and states the claims | Complaint / Indictment |
| Answer | The defendant's formal written response to the complaint | Plea |
| Discovery | Exchange of evidence (interrogatories, depositions, requests for production) | Discovery |
| Judgment | The court's final decision resolving the case | Verdict + Judgment |
Key civil filings and concepts an interpreter should recognize on sight:
- Petitioner / Respondent — used instead of plaintiff/defendant in petitions, appeals, and family matters.
- Summons — the official notice ordering a defendant to respond to a lawsuit.
- Service of process — formal delivery of the summons and complaint.
- Deposition — sworn out-of-court testimony taken before trial.
- Interrogatories — written questions a party must answer under oath.
- Settlement — an agreed resolution ending the case without trial.
- Default judgment — a judgment entered because a party failed to respond or appear.
- Damages — money awarded; compensatory (to make whole) versus punitive (to punish).
- Liable — legally responsible in a civil sense (not "guilty," which is criminal).
- Injunction — a court order requiring a party to do or stop doing something.
Family Law
Family court has a specialized vocabulary that recurs heavily on the exam:
- Dissolution of marriage / divorce — the legal ending of a marriage; the spouses are usually petitioner and respondent.
- Legal separation — a court-recognized separation without ending the marriage.
- Custody — legal custody is decision-making authority; physical custody is where the child lives; custody may be sole or joint.
- Visitation / parenting time — the schedule for the non-custodial parent.
- Child support — court-ordered payments for a child's needs.
- Spousal support / alimony / maintenance — payments from one spouse to another.
- Restraining order / protective order — an order prohibiting contact or abuse; a temporary restraining order (TRO) is short-term pending a hearing.
- Guardian ad litem — a person appointed to represent a child's or incapacitated party's interests.
- Paternity — a proceeding to establish legal fatherhood.
Immigration Court
Immigration court is an administrative forum within the U.S. Department of Justice, not a criminal court. The terminology is distinct:
- Respondent — the noncitizen in the proceeding (never "defendant").
- Immigration Judge (IJ) — the adjudicator (not a jury proceeding).
- Removal proceedings — the process to determine whether a respondent may stay in the U.S. (formerly "deportation").
- Notice to Appear (NTA) — the charging document initiating removal proceedings.
- Master calendar hearing — the preliminary scheduling and pleading hearing.
- Individual / merits hearing — the evidentiary hearing on the case.
- Relief from removal — including asylum, withholding of removal, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, and voluntary departure.
- Bond hearing — a hearing on release from immigration detention.
Traffic and Administrative Hearings
Lower-stakes and agency proceedings still require precise interpretation:
- Citation / ticket — the written charge for a traffic offense.
- Infraction — a minor violation, usually punishable by fine, not jail.
- Arraignment (traffic) — the first appearance where the cited party admits, denies, or contests the citation.
- Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) — the officer who presides over agency hearings (licensing, benefits, workers' compensation).
- Appellant / appellee — the parties on appeal or administrative review.
- Stipulation — an agreement between parties accepted by the court.
The core exam skill here is register-switching: recognizing that the same human role (the person responding to the action) is the defendant in civil court, the respondent in family and immigration court, and the cited party in traffic court, and choosing the term the forum actually uses.
Tracking the Party Names Across Forums
Because the exam frequently presents a short scenario and asks for the correct term, internalize this quick reference. The person initiating the action and the person responding change names by forum, even though the underlying roles are parallel.
| Forum | Initiating Party | Responding Party | Final Outcome Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal | The People / State / Prosecution | Defendant / The accused | Verdict, then Judgment & Sentence |
| Civil | Plaintiff | Defendant | Judgment |
| Family | Petitioner | Respondent | Decree / Order |
| Immigration | DHS (the Government) | Respondent | Decision / Order of removal or relief |
| Appeal | Appellant | Appellee / Respondent | Opinion / Decision |
An interpreter who maps a scenario to the correct row of this table will answer most civil and administrative terminology questions correctly.
In a civil lawsuit, what is the document called that the defendant files in formal written response to the plaintiff's complaint?
In immigration court, what is the correct term for the noncitizen who is the subject of removal proceedings?
In family law, the type of custody that refers to a parent's authority to make major decisions about a child's upbringing (as opposed to where the child physically lives) is called ______ custody.
Type your answer below