Party (law)
A party is an individual or group of individuals that compose a single entity which can be identified as one for the purposes of law.
Parties to litigation
Parties include:- plaintiff,
- defendant,
- petitioner,
- respondent,
- cross-complainant, or
- cross-defendant.
Courts use various terms to identify the role of a particular party in civil litigation, usually identifying the party that brings a lawsuit as the plaintiff, or, in older American cases, the party of the first part; and the party against whom the case was brought as the defendant, or, in older American cases, the party of the second part. In a criminal case in Nigeria and some other countries the parties are called prosecutor and defendant.