Fair Trial Law and Legal Definition
Fair Trial is a neutral trial conducted to accord each party to the proceeding their due process rights. The right to a fair trial applies to civil and criminal proceedings.
Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Sixth Amendment reads as follows: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence”. [ USCS Const. Amend. 6 ]
In the U.S., the right to a fair trial is secured by the Fourteenth Amendment as a fundamental liberty. A fair trial is a legal trial conducted according to the rules of common law. In a fair trial, the accused's legal rights are safeguarded and respected. A fair trial hears before it condemns. The trial proceeds on inquiry and renders judgment only after trial. In a fair trial, jurors are to be entirely indifferent as to the parties at the outset. The necessary elements of a fair trial are an adequate hearing and an impartial tribunal, free from any interest, bias, or prejudice. A fair trial presupposes full justice within human limitations. [Box v. State, 74 Ark. App. 82, 88-89 (Ark. Ct. App. 2001)].
Legal Definition list
Related Legal Terms
- American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial AFLCIO
- American Society of Industrial Security [ASIS]
- Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
- Bench Trial
- Bifurcated Trial
- Bill for a New Trial
- Bureau of African Affairs [Department of State]
- Bureau of Consular Affairs
- Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs [Department of State]
- Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs [EEB] [Department of State]
