A party is an individual or group of individuals that compose a single entity which can be identified as one for the purposes of the law.
Parties include:· A person who only appears in the case as a witness is not considered a party.
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.