A court is any person or institution, such as a government agency, that settles legal disputes between people and between governments. Courts adjudicate civil and criminal matters and carry out the administration of justice in accordance with law. In common law and other legal systems, courts decide whether a person committed a crime and, if so, how that person should be punished for the crime.
In most countries, courts are staffed by judges and lawyers who are called barristers (from Latin, “friend of the court”). The members of the Supreme Court in the United States are referred to as Justices and are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for life terms.
The process of deciding a case in court involves both sides presenting their cases to a fact finder, typically a judge or jury. Each side argues the facts of its case and makes legal arguments that support its position. The fact finder then decides the case based on all of the evidence presented.
The earliest courts in England consisted of three individuals: the actor or plaintiff who complains of an injury; the reus or defendant who is asked to make satisfaction for it; and the judex or judicial power to examine the truth of the fact, determine the law arising upon it, and by its officers to provide a remedy for it. Today’s courts are larger and more complex than those of early times, with many of the cases being decided by statute rather than by judgments of common law.