In criminal law . A criminal action ; a proceeding instituted and carried on by due course of law , before a competent tribunal, for the purpose of determining the guilt or innocence of a person charged with crime. See U. S. v. Reis-Inger, 12S U. S. 398, 9 Sup. Ct. 99, 32 L. Ed. 480; Tennessee v. Davis. 100 U. S. 257, 25 L. Ed. 648; Schulte v. Keokuk County, 74 Iowa, 292, 37 N. W. 376; Sigsbee v. State, 43 Fla. 524, 30 South. 816. By an easy extension of its meaning ” prosecution ” is sometimes used to designate the state as the party proceeding in a criminal action , or the prosecutor , or counsel; as when we speak of “the evidence adduced by the prosecution .”
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
