Terms Used In 7 Guam Code Ann. § 21301

  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
The trial must proceed in the following order, unless the judge, for special reasons, otherwise directs:

(a) The plaintiff, after stating the issue and his case, must produce the evidence on his part;

(b) The defendant may then open his defense, and offer his evidence in support thereof;

(c) The parties may then respectively offer rebutting evidence only, unless the court, for good reason, in furtherance of justice, permits them to offer evidence upon their original case;

(d) When the evidence is concluded, unless the case is submitted to the court on either side or on both sides without argument, the plaintiff must commence and may conclude the argument;

(e) If several defendants, having separate defenses, appear by different counsel, the court must determine their relative order in evidence and argument.

SOURCE: CCP § 631.

2017 NOTE: Subsection designations altered pursuant to the authority of 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606.

COMMENT: The Compiler has not found any equivalent provisions to this section in the Guam Rules of Civil Procedure.

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