In legal parlance, a trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute.
The following are books published by Gryphon Editions in the Notable Trials Library series. The Notable Trials Library includes books about famous and important legal trials throughout history. This series contains both full leather and quarter bound volumes.
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Note: Some titles may now be discontinued!
A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger, Printer of The New York Weekly Journal by James Alexander - 1989
The Affair: The Case of Alfred Dreyfus by Jean-Denis Bredin - 1989
The Trials of Oscar Wilde - H. Montgomery Hyde (editor) - 1989
The Amazing Crime and Trial of Leopold & Loeb by Marueen McKernan - 1989
The Trial of Lizzie Borden With a History of the Case by Edmund Pearson - 1989
The Assassination of President Lincoln and the Trial of the Conspirators by Ben Pitman - 1989
The Court - Martial of the Bounty Mutineers by Owen Rutter - 1989
The Lindbergh Kidnapping: The Trial of Bruno Richard Hauptman - Sidney B. Whipple (editor) - 1989
The Andersonville Prison Trial / The Trial of Captain Henry Wirz by General N. P. Chipman - 1990
The Sacco - Vanzetti Case by Osmond K. Fraenkel - 1990
Trial of King Charles the First - J. G. Muddiman (editor) - 1990
Report of the Trial of Professor John W. Webster, Indicted for the Murder of Doctor George Parkman by James W. Stone - 1990
The Nuremberg Trial by John and Anne Tusa - 1990
Reversal of Fortune : Inside The Von Bulow Case by Alan M. Dershowitz - 1990
The Mignonette Case: Regina Vs. Dudley and Stephens - 1990
The Scopes Trial: The World's Most Famous Trial - Tennessee Evolution Case - 1990
The Trial of Jeanne d'Arc (Trial of Joan of Arc) by W. P. Barrett - 1991
The Trial of Guy Fawkes and Others: The Gunpowder Plot - Donald L. Carswell (editor) - 1991
The Leo Frank Case / The Tennessean Special News Section Sunday, March 7, 1982 by Leonard Dinnerstein - 1991
The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History by Maurice A. Finocchiaro - 1991
The Trial of Bernhard Goetz: A Crime of Self Defense by Osmond K. Fraenkel - 1991
Gideon's Trumpet by Anthony Lewis - 1991
The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterley, Tropic of Cancer and Fanny Hill by Charles Rembar - 1991
Jerry Falwell Vs. Larry Flynt: The First Amendment on Trial by Rodney A. Smolla - 1991
The Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen - Filson Young (editor) - 1991
The Trial of Captain Kidd - Graham Brooks (editor) - 1992
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648 to 1706 by George Lincoln Burr - 1992
Evil Angels: The Dingo Took My Baby Trial by John Bryson - 1992
The Trial of Aaron Burr by J. J. Coombs - 1992
The Trial of Ezra Pound: A Documented Account of the Treason Case by the Defendant's Lawyer by Julien Cornell - 1992
The Oppenheimer Case: The Trial of a Security System by Chares P. Curtis - 1992
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson by David Miller Dewitt - 1992
The Queen Vs. Louis Riel - 1992
The Baccarat Case: Gordon-Cumming Vs. Wilson and Others - W. Teignmouth Shore (editor) - 1992
The Trial of Jack Ruby by John Kaplan and Jon R. Waltz - 1992
The King's Trial: The French Revolution Vs. Louis XVI by David P. Jordan - 1993
The Official Report of the Trial of Sarah Jane Robinson for the Murder of Prince Arthur Freeman by Gerald Langford - 1993
The My Lai Inquiry by W. R. Peers - 1993
Justice on Trial: The Case of Louis D. Brandeis by A. L. Todd - 1993
A Slight Case of Libel: Meacher Vs. Trelford and Others by Alan Watkins - 1993
Teapot Dome by John Starr and W. R. Werner - 1993
Report of the Select Committee of the Senate to Inquire into the Late Invasion and Seizure of the Public Property at Harper's Ferry - 1993
Reckless Disregard: Westmoreland Vs. CBS et al.; Sharon by Renata Adler - 1994
Somebody is Lying: The Story of Dr. X by Myron Farber - 1994
Roe Vs. Wade: The Untold Story of the Landmark Supreme Court Decision That Made Abortion Legal by Marian Faux - 1994
Debaters and Dynamiters: The Story of the Haywood Trial by David H. Grover - 1994
The Trial of William Joyce - J. W. Hall (editor) - 1994
Simple Justice: The history of Brown Vs. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality by Richard Kluger - 1994
The Trial of Socrates by I. F. Stone - 1994
The Trial of Madame Caillaux by Edward Berenson - 1995
The People Vs. Clarence Darrow: The Bribery Trial of America's Greatest Lawyer by Geoffrey Cowan - 1995
The Murder of Herodes and Other Trials from the Athenian Law Courts by Kathleen Freeman - 1995
Case of Dred Scott verses John F.A. Sandford, 1856 by Benjamin C. Howard - 1995
Landru by F. A. Mackenzie - 1995
Behind Bakke : Affirmative Action and the Supreme Court by Bernard Schwartz - 1995
Perjury The Hiss-Chambers Case by Allen Weinstein - 1995
The Anatomy of a Constitutional Law Case: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. Vs. Sawyer, The Steel Seizure Decision by Alan F. Westin - 1995
The Trial of the U2: Court Proceedings of the Case of Francis Gary Powers - 1995
The Trial of Bukharin by George Katkov - 1996
The Murder of Stanford White by Gerald Langford - 1996
Report of the Trial of William Henry Theodore Durrant by Edgar Peixotto - 1996
Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech by Richard Polenberg - 1996
The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau by Charles E. Rosenberg - 1996
Burke and Hare by William Roughead - 1996
Bending The Law: The Story of the Dalkon Shield Bankruptcy by Richard B. Sobol - 1996
The Papers and the Papers: An Account of the Legal and Political Battle Over the Pentagon Papers by Sanford J. Ungar - 1996
The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber - 1997
The Abuse of Innocence: The McMartin Preschool Trial by Paul and Shirley Eberle - 1997
Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Schooner Savannah by A. F. Warburton - 1997
The Trial of Martin Luther King by Alan F. Westin & Barry Mahoney - 1997
Report of the Case of George C. Hersey by James M. W. Yerrinton - 1997
Eden Versus Whistler: The Baronet & the Butterfly, A Valentine with a Verdict - 1997
The Trial of Susan B. Anthony on the Charge of Illegal Voting at the Presidential Election in November 1972 - 1997
The Great Conspiracy Trial: An Essay on Law, Liberty and the Constitution by Jacob Epstein - 1998
The Briar Patch: The People of the State of New York Vs. Lumumba Shakur et al. by Murray Kempton - 1998
Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb by Bernard Lefkowitz - 1998
The Truth about the Nagy Affair: Facts, Documents, Comments by Albert Camus (preface) - 1999
Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Remington by Gary May - 1999
The Rosenberg File: A Search for Truth by Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton - 1999
The Insanity File: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln by Mark Neely, Jr. and E. Gerald McMurtry - 1999
Voltaire & the Calas Case by Edna Nixon - 1999
Inside a Class Action: The Holocaust and the Swiss Bank by James Schapiro - 1999
The Life, Trial, and Death of Francisco Ferrer by William Archer - 2000
The Scottsboro Case by Dan T. Carter - 2000
The "Counterfeit" Man: The True Story of the Boorn-Colvin Murder Case by Gerald W. McFarland - 2000
A Chair for Wayne Lonergan by Hamilton Darby Perry - 2000
Red Scare in Court: New York versus the International Workers Order by Arthur J. Sabin - 2000
The Trial of Queen Caroline by Roger Fulford - 2001
The Votes that Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Bush Vs. Gore Presidential Election by Howard Gillman - 2001
A House in Gross Disorder: Sex, Law, and the 2nd Earl of Castlehaven by Cynthia B. Herrup - 2001
Ten Rillington Place by Ludovic Kennedy - 2001
History of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770 by Frederic Kidder - 2001
The Impeachment & Trial of President Clinton by Merrill McLoughlin - 2001
The Trial of Jesus of Nazareth by Max Radin - 2001
Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials by John W. Sayer - 2001
Coals of Fire: The Alton Telegraph Libel Case by Thomas B. Littlewood - 2002
A Rumor of Revolt: The "Great Negro Plot" by Thomas J. Davis - 2002
The Great Lobster War by Ron Formisano - 2002
Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedition Acts by John C. Miller - 2002
The Trial of the Duchess of Kingston - Lewis Melville (editor) - 2002
Royal Mail Case: Rex Vs. Lord Kylsant, & Another - Collin Brooks (editor) - 2003
Lost Love; True Story of Passion, Murder and Justice in Old New York by George Cooper - 2003
The Billy Mitchell Affair by Burke Davis - 2003
Eight Men Out: The Chicago Blacksox Case by Eliot Asinof and Stephen Jay Gould - 2003
Deliberate Intent: a Lawyer Tells the True Story of Murder by the Book by Rod Smolla - 2003
Lessons from the Trial: The People Vs. O. J. Simpson by Gerald F. Uelmen - 2003
The Power to Harm by John Cornwell - 2004
The Irving Judgment: David Irving Vs. Penguin Books and Professor Deborah Lipstadt - 2004
The Bloody Assizes - J. G. Muddiman (editor) - 2004
The Greer Case: A True Court Drama by David W. Peck - 2004
The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge by Alan Prendergast - 2004
The Lost German Slave Girl by John Bailey - 2005
How Charles Bravo Died: The Chronicle of a Cause Celebre by Yseult Bridges - 2005
Poison Widows: A True Story of Witchcraft, Arsenic, and Murder by George Cooper - 2005
To an Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial by Garrett Epps - 2005
The Unlawful Concert: An Account of the Presidio Mutiny Case by Fred Gardner - 2005
The Trial of Patrolman Thomas Shea by Thomas Hauser - 2005
Trial of Oscar Slater - William Roughead (editor) - 2005
Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson & the Landmark Case that Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler - 2006
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle - 2006
To An Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial by Garrett Epps - 2006
The Collaborator: The Trial & Execution of Robert Brasillach by Alice Kaplan - 2006
The People Vs. Big Tobacco: How The States Took on The Big Tobacco Giants by Carrick Mollenkamp - 2006
Judgement at Gallatin: The Trial of Frank James by Gerard S. Petrone - 2006
Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching that Launched 100 Years of Federalism by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips - 2006
The Smoking Gun by Gerry Spence - 2007
A Black and White Case: How Affirmative Action Survived Its Greatest Legal Challenge - 2007
Scapegoats of The British Empire: The Trial of Breaker Morant by George Witton - 2007
Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland by Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf - 2008
The Trial of Charles Manson by George Bishop - 2008
The Trial of Rattenbury and Stoner - 2008
The Trial of George Joseph Smith - 2008
The United States Vs. I Lewis Libby by Murray Waas and Jeff Lomanaco - 2009
The Sterilization of Carrie Buck - 2009
The Boys from New Jersey: How the Mob Beat the Feds by Robert Rudolph - 2009
The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed by Graveline and Clemens with a special introduction by Alan Dershowitz - 2010
The Trial of Captain Porteous with a special introduction by Alan Dershowitz - 2010
The Mooney Case by Richard H. Frost - 2010
The Votes that Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election by Howard Gillman - 2010
Who Killed Mr. Crittenden? The Laura D. Fair Case by Kenneth Lamott - 2011
The Trial of Marshal Petain by Jules Roy - 2011
Heavy Justice: The Trial of Mike Tyson by Randy Roberts and J. Gregory Garrison - 2012
Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp - 2012
Cicero Murder Trials - 2013
Trials of Intimacy: Love and Loss in the Beecher - Tilton Scandal by Richard Wightman Fox - 2013
The Matrimonial Trials of Henry VIII by Henry Ansgar Kelly - 2013
The Three Trials of William Hone - 2013
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight: Cassius Clay vs. the United States of America by Howard Bingham and Max Wallace - 2014
Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy by Howard Jones - 2014
The Trial of Marshal Ney by Harold Kurtz - 2014
The War Against Al Capone: Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders by Dennis E. Hoffman - 2014
Special Effects: Disaster at "Twilight Zone" The Tragedy and the Trial by Ron LaBreque - 2014
The Trial of Adolf Beck by Eric R. Watson - 2014
Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson by Keith Ablow (signed by author) - 2015
I Am Murdered: George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, and the Killing That Shocked a New Nation by Bruce Chadwick - 2015
The Perfect Villain: The Case of Jack Abramoff by Gary Chafetz - 2015
Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision that Legalized Racism by Harvey Fireside - 2015
Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era by John Heilemann - 2015
Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune by David Margolick - 2015
The Court-Martial of Mother Jones by Edward M. Steel, Jr. - 2015
Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family by Jess Walter - 2015
Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, and Forgery in the Holy Land by Nina Burleigh - 2016
The Trial of George Zimmerman "If I Had a Son” by Jack Cashill - 2016
Sacred Bond: The Legacy of Baby M by Phyllis Chesler (signed by author) introduction by Alan Dershowitz - 2016
The Death and Life of Malcolm X by Peter Goldman - 2016
A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood's Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports by Brad Snyder - 2016
The Trial and Execution of Sir William Wallace by Scotus Ignotus with a special introduction by Alan Dershowitz - 2016
The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court by Cliff Sloan and David McKean - 2017
Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams - 2017
Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony: A Psychological Portrait by Keith Ablow (signed by author) - 2018
The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France (Jean de Carrouges v. Jacques Le Gris) by Eric Jager - 2018
Judaism on Trial: Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages (Includes the Paris, Barcelona and Tortosa Disputations) by Hyam Maccoby with an Introduction by Alan Dershowitz - 2018
Martha Stewart on Trial, in Jail, and on a Comeback by Robert Slater - 2018
Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court by Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino - 2020
Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith by Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill - 2020
Hulk Hogan v. Gawker by Ryan Holiday - 2020
Piracy in Qumran: The Battle over the Scrolls of the Pre-Christ Era by Raphael Israeli - 2020
Rush to Justice? by Jerry Summers - 2020
Little Pink House by Jeff Benedict - 2021
Trial court
A trial court or court of first instance is the court in which most civil or criminal cases begin. Not all cases are heard in trial courts; some cases may begin in inferior limited jurisdiction bodies such as the case of the jurisdiction of an administrative body that has been created by statute to make some kind of binding determination under the law and where simplified procedural practices may apply similar to arbitration.
A trial court of general jurisdiction is authorized to hear any type of civil or criminal case that is not committed exclusively to another court. A trial court of limited jurisdiction is authorized to hear only specified types of cases. The Superior Courts of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington State; the New York Supreme Courts, and the Maryland Circuit Courts are all examples of trial courts of general jurisdiction, along with the United States District Court in the federal system. Examples of trial courts of limited jurisdiction are the family courts, juvenile courts and probate courts found in most states, along with the U.S. Tax Court in the federal system. Because different states apply different names to their courts, it is often not evident whether a court is general or limited in its jurisdiction. For instance, the Maine District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, but the Montana District Court is a court of general jurisdiction.
In the trial court evidence is taken and determinations are made called findings of fact based on the evidence under the rules of evidence of the court following the applicable procedural law; the court also makes findings of law based upon the applicable law. Findings of fact are determined by the trier of fact (judge or jury) and the findings of law are always determined by the judge or judges. In most common law jurisdictions, the trial court often sits with a jury and one judge; though some cases may be designated "bench trials" — either by statute, custom, or by agreement of the parties — in which the judge makes both fact and law determinations.
A trial court is distinguished from an appellate court, which reviews cases that have already been heard in the trial court. In appellate review the record of the trial court must be certified by the clerk of the trial court and transmitted to the appellate body. Most appellate courts do not have the authority to hear testimony or take evidence, but must rely upon the record below. Most trial courts are courts of record. The trial court is the court where the record of the presentation of evidence is created and must be maintained or transmitted to the appellate court.
Types of trials
Trials can also be divided by the type of dispute at issue. A criminal trial is designed to resolve accusations brought by the government against a person accused of a crime. In common law systems, most criminal trials are held before a jury. A civil trial is generally held to settle a dispute between private parties (although the government can both sue and be sued in a civil capacity). Because the state is attempting to use its power to deprive the accused of life, liberty, or property, criminal defendants are afforded greater leeway to defend themselves than parties to a civil suit.Differences between civil law and common law systems
The majority of civil law jurisdictions follow an inquisitorial system of adjudication, in which judges undertake an active investigation of the claims by examining the evidence and preparing reports.In common law systems, the trial judge, the investigators, and the prosecution are separate functions. After an investigation has been completed and charges lodged, the trial judge presides over proceedings grounded in the adversarial system of dispute resolution, where both the prosecution and the defense prepare arguments to be presented before the court. Some civil law systems have adopted adversarial procedures.
Proponents of either system tend to consider that their system defends best the rights of the innocent. There is a tendency in common law countries to believe that civil law / inquisitorial systems do not have the so-called "presumption of innocence", and do not provide the defense with adequate rights. Conversely, there is a tendency in countries with an inquisitorial system to believe that accusatorial proceedings unduly favor rich defendants who can afford large legal teams, and are very harsh on poorer defendants.
Bench trial
A bench trial is a trial held before a judge sitting without a jury. The term in chiefly used in common law jurisdictions to describe exceptions from jury trial, as most other legal systems (Roman, Islamic and socialist) do not use juries to any great extent.Jury trial
British common law and the United States Constitution recognize the right to a jury trial to be a fundamental civil liberty or civil right; however most other nations do not recognize it as a fundamental civil liberty, civil right, or human right, because jury trials evolved within common law systems rather than civil law systems. Jury trials are of far less importance (or no importance) globally than they are to common law nations.Juries weigh the evidence and testimony to determine questions of fact. Juries generally do not determine questions of law, although this was common in the past. A verdict is a finding of fact. A question of law may lead to the overturning of a verdict.
A jury trial should not be confused with grand jury proceedings. The jury used for a trial can be referred to as a "petit jury" to distinguish it from a grand jury, used for indictments.
Hearing
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer.Settlement
In law there are several main meanings of the word settlement. The most common meaning refers to when the parties to a dispute (both disputes that are being litigated before the courts, and disputes where court action has not been started) reach an agreement as to the case, which is said to 'settle' the claim.Source and additional information: Trial