plaintiff vs accused

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keannu

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In civil suit(action) vs criminal suit(action), can we use the same terms as "plaintiff" and "accused" for both cases?
Or does each case have different terms?
 

MikeNewYork

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Different words for different trials. In a crminal case, the prosecution represents the people of the State, or Crown and there is an accused. In a civil case, there is a plaintiff, the complaining party, and the other party is a respondent. That is true in many, but not all jurisdictions, and may be different in the UK.
 

Barb_D

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You will hear "defendant" used for both the accused and the respondent. You can't use "plaintiff" for a criminal suit. You can't used "accused" for a civil suit.
 
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