Sanction
This is a very unusual word with two contradictory meanings. To "sanction" can mean to ratify or to approve but it can also mean to punish. The "sanction" of a crime refers to the actual punishment, usually expressed as a fine or jail term.

Sentence
The punishment given to a person who has been convicted (i.e. found to be guilty) of a crime. It may be time in jail, community service or a period of probation.

Statutes
The written laws approved by legislatures, parliaments or houses of assembly (i.e., politicians). Also known as " legislation ". The written laws of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland , for example, are in a multi-volume set of books called the Statutes of Newfoundland.

Subpoena
Latin: an order of a court which requires a person to be present at a certain time and place or suffer a penalty ( subpoena means, literally, "under penalty"). This is the traditional tool used by lawyers to ensure that witnesses present themselves at a given place, date and time to make themselves available to testify (see also duces tecum ).

Substituted service
If a party appears to be avoiding service of court documents, a request may be made with the court to, instead of personal service (i.e. giving the document directly to the person), that the document be published in a local newspaper, served on a person believed to frequent the person or mailed to his (or her) last known address.

Summary conviction offence
In Canada , a less serious offence than indictable offences for which both the procedure and punishment tends to be less onerous.

Summons
In the USA , this is one of the initial documents issued in a civil suit; giving the defendant notice of the claim and an opportunity to defend it. The summons also gives the court which issues it the authority to dispose of the matter. In Canadian criminal law, this is the document used by the police to compel an accused to attend court to answer the charges. It does not involve the arrest of the accused and is used where the police, either by the relatively less serious nature of the crime or because of the standing of the accused in the community, do not believe that arrest is necessary to ensure the attendance of the accused at court.

Surety
The person who has pledged him or herself to pay back money or perform a certain action if the principal to a contract fails, as collateral , and as part of the original contract. Technically, where a person provides collateral after or before the original contract is signed, and as a separate contract, the person is called a " guarantor " and not a "surety."