NCTJ Law - Key Words Exam Questions and Answers Fully Solved Latest Version 2025
Absolute Discharge - Answers A decision by a court after conviction that the offender should not be
punished for the crime
Affidavit - Answers A statement given on oath to be used in court procedings
Alibi - Answers A claim by an accused that he/she can show he/she was not at the scene when a crime
was committed and is therefore innocent
Allocation - Answers The procedure at magistrates' courts to determine whether an either-way criminal
case is dealt with by magistrates or by a Crown court. Also known as the mode of trial hearing
Arraignment - Answers The procedure at Crown courts when charges are put up to defendants for them
to plead guilty or not guilty.
Automatic, automatically - Answers Terms used for reporting restrictions which ban publication of
certain information if not court order is needed to put them into effect in respect of a particular case or
individual. Statutes specify the circumstances in which they operate.
Bail - Answers The system by which a person awaiting trial, or appeal, may be freed by a court pending
the next hearing.
Bailiff - Answers A court official who enforces its orders.
Case law - Answers The system by which report of previous cases and the judges' interpretations of the
common law are used as precedents where the legally material facts are similaw
Circuit judge - Answers A judge appointed to sit at a Crown court or county court within a circuit - one of
the regions of England and Wales into which court administration is divided. Unlike High Court judges,
circuit judges do not go on circuit - that is, travel to various large centres dispensing justice.
Claim form - Answers The document which begins many forms of civil action
Claimant - Answers The person who brings an action in the civil court
Committal for sentence, committed for sentence - Answers When a defendant at a magistrates' court
who has admitted an offence or been convicted at trial is sent to the crown court to be sentenced
because the magistrates decide their powers of punishment are insufficient. (there are no reporting
restrictions on committals for sentence).
Common law - Answers Law based on the custom of the realm and the decisions of judges through the
centuries rather than on Acts of Parliament
Community punishment - Answers An order that an offender must carry out unpaid work in the
community under a probation officer's supervision
, Concurrent sentences - Answers Two or more sentences of imprisonment imposed for different offences;
the longest one is the sentence actually served
Conditional discharge - Answers A decision by a court that a convicted defendant should not be
punished unless he/she re-offends - the condition of the discharge being that if he/she commits another
crime within a specified period, he/she can be punished for both the new and original offences
Conditional fee agreements (CFA's) - Answers 'No win, no fee' agreements - their use was extended to
defamation cases in 1998 under the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 1998.
Contra mundum - Answers An injunction or order which binds all those who are aware that it has been
made. The Latin means 'against the world', but such orders only have effect within the jurisdiction in
which they are made
Copyright - Answers The law which protects the rights of the creators of original literary, dramatic,
musical and artistic works, including photographs
Counsel - Answers Barrister (singular or plural), not solicitor
Disclosure and inspection - Answers The process whereby each side in a court action serves relevant
documents on the other, which has the right to inspect them
District judge - Answers A county court judge who also decides smaller cases, family law cases, presides
at public examinations in bankruptcy and deal with cases under the informal arbitration procedure
District judge (magistrates' court) - Answers A full-time legally qualified magistrate
Editors' Code of Practice - Answers Code of ethics enforced by the Independent Press Standards
Organisation (Ipso) as regulator for newspapers, magazines and their websites
Either-way offence - Answers One triable either summarily at magistrates' court or by a jury at Crown
court. In an either-way case a defendant who has indicated a plea of guilty or not guilty has the right to
opt for jury trial at Crown court. But if he/she opts for summary trial, the magistrates may decide that
the case is too serious for them to handle and must be dealt with at Crown court.
Evidence-in-chief - Answers The main evidence given by a witness before he/she is cross-examined
Excluded material - Answers Material that is exempt from compulsory disclosure under the Police and
Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). It includes journalistic material that a person holds in confidence and
which consists of dicuments or records.
Fair dealing - Answers The limited use of copyright material or reporting news or current affairs, or for
criticism or review or quotation, under which the work is properly identified and attributed to its author.
Honest opinion - Answers A defence to a libel action, formerly known as 'honest comment' or 'fair
comment'; the defendant does not have to show the words were fair, but must show they were an
honestly held opinion
Absolute Discharge - Answers A decision by a court after conviction that the offender should not be
punished for the crime
Affidavit - Answers A statement given on oath to be used in court procedings
Alibi - Answers A claim by an accused that he/she can show he/she was not at the scene when a crime
was committed and is therefore innocent
Allocation - Answers The procedure at magistrates' courts to determine whether an either-way criminal
case is dealt with by magistrates or by a Crown court. Also known as the mode of trial hearing
Arraignment - Answers The procedure at Crown courts when charges are put up to defendants for them
to plead guilty or not guilty.
Automatic, automatically - Answers Terms used for reporting restrictions which ban publication of
certain information if not court order is needed to put them into effect in respect of a particular case or
individual. Statutes specify the circumstances in which they operate.
Bail - Answers The system by which a person awaiting trial, or appeal, may be freed by a court pending
the next hearing.
Bailiff - Answers A court official who enforces its orders.
Case law - Answers The system by which report of previous cases and the judges' interpretations of the
common law are used as precedents where the legally material facts are similaw
Circuit judge - Answers A judge appointed to sit at a Crown court or county court within a circuit - one of
the regions of England and Wales into which court administration is divided. Unlike High Court judges,
circuit judges do not go on circuit - that is, travel to various large centres dispensing justice.
Claim form - Answers The document which begins many forms of civil action
Claimant - Answers The person who brings an action in the civil court
Committal for sentence, committed for sentence - Answers When a defendant at a magistrates' court
who has admitted an offence or been convicted at trial is sent to the crown court to be sentenced
because the magistrates decide their powers of punishment are insufficient. (there are no reporting
restrictions on committals for sentence).
Common law - Answers Law based on the custom of the realm and the decisions of judges through the
centuries rather than on Acts of Parliament
Community punishment - Answers An order that an offender must carry out unpaid work in the
community under a probation officer's supervision
, Concurrent sentences - Answers Two or more sentences of imprisonment imposed for different offences;
the longest one is the sentence actually served
Conditional discharge - Answers A decision by a court that a convicted defendant should not be
punished unless he/she re-offends - the condition of the discharge being that if he/she commits another
crime within a specified period, he/she can be punished for both the new and original offences
Conditional fee agreements (CFA's) - Answers 'No win, no fee' agreements - their use was extended to
defamation cases in 1998 under the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 1998.
Contra mundum - Answers An injunction or order which binds all those who are aware that it has been
made. The Latin means 'against the world', but such orders only have effect within the jurisdiction in
which they are made
Copyright - Answers The law which protects the rights of the creators of original literary, dramatic,
musical and artistic works, including photographs
Counsel - Answers Barrister (singular or plural), not solicitor
Disclosure and inspection - Answers The process whereby each side in a court action serves relevant
documents on the other, which has the right to inspect them
District judge - Answers A county court judge who also decides smaller cases, family law cases, presides
at public examinations in bankruptcy and deal with cases under the informal arbitration procedure
District judge (magistrates' court) - Answers A full-time legally qualified magistrate
Editors' Code of Practice - Answers Code of ethics enforced by the Independent Press Standards
Organisation (Ipso) as regulator for newspapers, magazines and their websites
Either-way offence - Answers One triable either summarily at magistrates' court or by a jury at Crown
court. In an either-way case a defendant who has indicated a plea of guilty or not guilty has the right to
opt for jury trial at Crown court. But if he/she opts for summary trial, the magistrates may decide that
the case is too serious for them to handle and must be dealt with at Crown court.
Evidence-in-chief - Answers The main evidence given by a witness before he/she is cross-examined
Excluded material - Answers Material that is exempt from compulsory disclosure under the Police and
Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). It includes journalistic material that a person holds in confidence and
which consists of dicuments or records.
Fair dealing - Answers The limited use of copyright material or reporting news or current affairs, or for
criticism or review or quotation, under which the work is properly identified and attributed to its author.
Honest opinion - Answers A defence to a libel action, formerly known as 'honest comment' or 'fair
comment'; the defendant does not have to show the words were fair, but must show they were an
honestly held opinion
