Court words, translated the moment you need them

Legal language isn't designed to confuse people, but it often does. A form tells you a matter was continued, and you're left wondering if that's good news. A clerk mentions discovery, and it sounds like something you should have done.

Some of the terms are local, too. In South Carolina, the prosecutor in a criminal case is usually called the solicitor, and each judicial circuit has its own solicitor's office. Horry and Georgetown counties make up the 15th Circuit. If you moved to the Grand Strand from another state, that one word can make a conversation feel foreign.

Each entry in this section does three things. It defines the term in ordinary words, it tells you where you're likely to run into it (a ticket, a court notice, a lawyer's email), and it tells you what usually happens next. Where a term carries different weight depending on the case, we flag it and point you to the question worth asking.