trial

trial
    n 1: the act of testing something; "in the experimental trials
         the amount of carbon was measured separately"; "he called
         each flip of the coin a new trial" [syn: {test}, {trial},
         {run}]
    2: trying something to find out about it; "a sample for ten days
       free trial"; "a trial of progesterone failed to relieve the
       pain" [syn: {trial}, {trial run}, {test}, {tryout}]
    3: the act of undergoing testing; "he survived the great test of
       battle"; "candidates must compete in a trial of skill" [syn:
       {test}, {trial}]
    4: (law) the determination of a person's innocence or guilt by
       due process of law; "he had a fair trial and the jury found
       him guilty"; "most of these complaints are settled before
       they go to trial"
    5: (sports) a preliminary competition to determine
       qualifications; "the trials for the semifinals began
       yesterday"
    6: an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event; "his
       mother-in-law's visits were a great trial for him"; "life is
       full of tribulations"; "a visitation of the plague" [syn:
       {trial}, {tribulation}, {visitation}]
    

Trial \Tri"al\, n. [From {Try}.]
   1. The act of trying or testing in any manner. Specifically:
      
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      (a) Any effort or exertion of strength for the purpose of
          ascertaining what can be done or effected.
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                [I] defy thee to the trial of mortal fight.
                                                  --Milton.
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      (b) The act of testing by experience; proof; test.
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                Repeated trials of the issues and events of
                actions.                          --Bp. Wilkins.
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      (c) Examination by a test; experiment, as in chemistry,
          metallurgy, etc.
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   2. The state of being tried or tempted; exposure to suffering
      that tests strength, patience, faith, or the like;
      affliction or temptation that exercises and proves the
      graces or virtues of men.
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            Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings.
                                                  --Heb. xi. 36.
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   3. That which tries or afflicts; that which harasses; that
      which tries the character or principles; that which tempts
      to evil; as, his child's conduct was a sore trial.
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            Every station is exposed to some trials. --Rogers.
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   4. (Law) The formal examination of the matter in issue in a
      cause before a competent tribunal; the mode of determining
      a question of fact in a court of law; the examination, in
      legal form, of the facts in issue in a cause pending
      before a competent tribunal, for the purpose of
      determining such issue.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Test; attempt; endeavor; effort; experiment; proof;
        essay. See {Test}, and {Attempt}.
        [1913 Webster]
    

TRIAL, n.  A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the
blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors.  In order to
effect this purpose it is necessary to supply a contrast in the person
of one who is called the defendant, the prisoner, or the accused.  If
the contrast is made sufficiently clear this person is made to undergo
such an affliction as will give the virtuous gentlemen a comfortable
sense of their immunity, added to that of their worth.  In our day the
accused is usually a human being, or a socialist, but in mediaeval
times, animals, fishes, reptiles and insects were brought to trial.  A
beast that had taken human life, or practiced sorcery, was duly
arrested, tried and, if condemned, put to death by the public
executioner.  Insects ravaging grain fields, orchards or vineyards
were cited to appeal by counsel before a civil tribunal, and after
testimony, argument and condemnation, if they continued _in
contumaciam_ the matter was taken to a high ecclesiastical court,
where they were solemnly excommunicated and anathematized.  In a
street of Toledo, some pigs that had wickedly run between the
viceroy's legs, upsetting him, were arrested on a warrant, tried and
punished.  In Naples and ass was condemned to be burned at the stake,
but the sentence appears not to have been executed.  D'Addosio relates
from the court records many trials of pigs, bulls, horses, cocks,
dogs, goats, etc., greatly, it is believed, to the betterment of their
conduct and morals.  In 1451 a suit was brought against the leeches
infesting some ponds about Berne, and the Bishop of Lausanne,
instructed by the faculty of Heidelberg University, directed that some
of "the aquatic worms" be brought before the local magistracy.  This
was done and the leeches, both present and absent, were ordered to
leave the places that they had infested within three days on pain of
incurring "the malediction of God."  In the voluminous records of this
_cause celebre_ nothing is found to show whether the offenders braved
the punishment, or departed forthwith out of that inhospitable
jurisdiction.
    

TRIAL, practice., The examination before a competent tribunal, according to 
the laws, of the land, of the facts put in issue in a cause, for the purpose 
of determining such issue. 4 Mason, 232. 
     2. There are various kinds of trial, the most common of which is trial 
by jury. To insure fairness this mode of trial lust be in public; it is 
conducted by selecting a jury in the manner prescribed by the local 
statutes, who must be sworn to try the matter in dispute according to law, 
and the evidence. Evidence is then given by the party on whom rests the onus 
probandi or burden of the proof, as the witnesses are called by a party they 
are questioned by him, and after they have been examined, which is called an 
examination in chief, they are subject to a cross-examination by the other 
party as to every part of their testimony. Having examined all his 
witnesses, the party who supports the affirmative of the issue closes; and 
the other party then calls his witnesses to explain his case or support his 
part of the issue these are in the same manner liable to a cross-
examination. In case the parties should differ as to what is to be given in 
evidence, the judge, must decide the matter, and his decision is conclusive 
upon the parties so far as regards the trial; but, in civil cases, a bill of 
exceptions (q.v.) way be taken, so that the matter may be examined before 
another tribunal. When the evidence has been closed, the counsel for the 
party who supports the affirmative of the issue, then addresses the jury, by 
recapitulating the evidence and applying the law to the facts, and showing 
on what particular points he rests his case. The opposite counsel then 
addresses the jury, enforcing in like manner the facts and the law as 
applicable to his side of the case; to which the other counsel has a right 
to reply. It is then the duty of the judge to sum up the evidence and 
explain to the jury the law applicable to the case this is called his 
charge. (q.v.) The jurors then retire to deliberate upon their verdict, and, 
after having agreed upon it, they come into court and deliver it in public. 
In case they cannot agree they may, in cases of necessity, be discharged: 
but, it is said, in capital cases they cannot be. Very just and merited 
encomiums have been bestowed on this mode of trial, particularly in criminal 
cases. Livingston's Rep. on the Plan of a Penal Code, 13 3 Story, Const. 
1773. The learned Duponceau has given beautiful sketch of this tribunal; 
"twelve invisible judges," said he, "whom the eye of the corrupter cannot 
see, and the influence of the powerful cannot reach, for they are nowhere to 
be found, until the moment when the balance of justice being placed in their 
bands, they hear, weigh, determine, pronounce, and immediately disappear, 
and are lost in the crowd of their fellow citizens." Address at the opening 
of the Law Academy at Philadelphia. Vide, generally, 4 Com. Dig. 783; 7 Id. 
522; 21 Vin. Ab. 1 Bac. Ab. h.t.; 1 Sell. Pr. 405 4 Bl. Com. ch. 27; Chit. 
Pr. Index, h.t. 3 Bl. Com. ch. 22; 15 Serg. & R. 61; 22 Vin. Ab. h.t. See 
Discharge of jury; Jury. 
     3. Trial by certificate. By the English law, this is a mode of trial 
allowed in such cases where the evidence of the person certifying is the 
only proper criterion of the point in dispute. For, when the fact in 
question lies out of the cognizance of the court, the judges must rely on 
the solemn averments or information of persons in such station, as affords 
them the most clear and complete knowledge of the truth. 
     4. As therefore such evidence, if given to a jury, must have been 
conclusive, the law, to save trouble and circuity, permits the fact to be 
determined upon such certificate merely. 3 Bl. Com. 333; Steph. Pl. 122. 
     5. Trial by the grand assize. This kind of trial is very similar to the 
common trial by jury. There is only one case in which it appears ever to 
have been applied, and there it is still in force. 
     6. In a writ of right, if the defendant by a particular form of plea 
appropriate to the purpose, (see the plea, 3 Chitty, 652,) denied the right 
of the demandant, as claimed, he had the option, till the recent abolition 
of the extravagant and barbarous method of wager by battel, of either 
offering battel or putting himself on the grand assize, to try whether he or 
the demandant "had the greater right." The latter course he may still take; 
and, if he does, the court award a writ for summoning four knights to make 
the election of twenty other recognitors. The four knights and twelve of the 
recognitors so elected, together making a jury of sixteen, constitute what 
is called the grand assise; and when assembled, they proceed to try the 
issue, or (as it is called in this case) the mise, upon the question of 
right. The trial, as in the case of a common jury, may be either at the bar 
or nisi prius; and if at nisi prius, a nisi prius record is made up; and the 
proceedings are in either case, in general, the same as where there is a 
common jury. See Wils. R. 419, 541; 1 Holt's N. P. Rep. 657; 3 Chitty's Pl. 
635; 2 Saund. 45 e; 1 Arch. 402. Upon the issue or mise of right, the wager 
of battel or the grand assise was, till the abolition of the former, and the 
latter still is, the only legitimate method of trial; and the question 
cannot be tried by a jury in the common form. 1 B. & P. 192. See 3 Bl. Com. 
351. 
     7. Trial by inspection or examination. This trial takes place when for 
the greater expedition of a cause, in some point or issue being either the 
principal question or arising collaterally out of it, being evidently the 
object of sense, the judges of the court, upon the testimony of their own 
senses, shall decide the point in dispute. For where the affirmative or 
negative of a question is matter of such obvious determination, it is not 
thought necessary to summon a jury to decide it; who are properly called in 
to inform the conscience of the court in respect of dubious facts, and, 
therefore, when the fact, from its nature, must be evident to the court 
either from ocular demonstration or other irrefragable proof, there the law 
departs from its usual resort, the verdict of twelve men, and relies ou the 
judgment alone. For example, if a defendant pleads in abatement of the suit 
that the plaintiff is dead, and one appears and calls himself the plaintiff, 
which the defendant denies; in this case the judges shall determine by 
inspection and examination whether be be the plaintiff or not. 9 Co. 30; 3 
Bl. Com. 331; Steph. Pl. 123. 
     8. Judges of courts of equity frequently decide facts upon mere 
inspection. The most familiar examples are those of cases where the 
plaintiff prays an injunction on an allegation of piracy or infringement of 
a patent or copyright. 5 Ves. 709; 12 Ves. 270, and the cases there cited. 
And see 2 Atk. 141; 2 B. & C. 80; 4 Ves. 681; 2 Russ. R. 385; 1 V. & B. 67; 
Cro. Jac. 230; 1 Dall. 166. 
     9. Trial by the record. This trial applies to cases where an issue of 
nul tiel record is joined in any action. If, on one side, a record be 
asserted to exist, and the opposite party deny its existence, under the form 
of traverse, that there is no such record remaining in court, as alleged, 
and issue be joined thereon, this is called an issue of nul tiel record; and 
the court awards, in such case, a trial by inspection and examination of the 
record: Upon this the party, affirming its existence, is bound to produce it 
in court, on a day given for the purpose, and if he fail to do so, judgment 
is given for his adversary. 
     10. The trial by record is not only in use when an issue of this kind 
happens to arise for decision, but it is the only legitimate mode of trying 
such issue, and the parties cannot put themselves upon the country. Steph. 
Pl. 122; 2 Bl. Com. 330. 
     11. Trial by wager of battel. In the old English law, this was a 
barbarous mode of trying facts, among a rude people, founded on the 
supposition that heaven would always interpose, and give the victory to the 
champions of truth and innocence. This mode of trial was abolished in 
England as late as the stat. 59 Geo. III., c. 46, A. D. 1818. It never was 
in force in the United States. See 8 Bl. Com. 337; 1 Hale's Hist. 188; see a 
modern case, 1 B. & A. 405. 
     12. Trial by wager of law. This mode of trial has fallen into complete 
disuse; but in point of law, it seems, in England, to be still competent in 
most cases to which is anciently applied. The most important and best 
established of these cases, is, the issue of nil debet, arising in action of 
debt of simple contract, or the issue of non detinet, in an action of 
detinue. In the declaration in these actions, as in almost all others, the 
plaintiff concludes by offering his suit (of which the ancient meaning was 
followers or witnesses, though the words are now retained as mere form,) to 
prove the truth of his claim. On the other hand, if the defendant, by a plea 
of nil debet or non detinet, deny the debt or detention, be may conclude by 
offering to establish the truth of such plea, "against the plaintiff and his 
suit, in such manner as the court shall direct." Upon this the court awards 
the wager of law; Co. Ent. 119 a; Lill. Ent. 467; 3 Chit. Pl. 479; and the 
form of this proceeding, when so awarded, is that the defendant brings into 
court with him eleven of his neighbors, and for himself, makes oath that he 
does not owe the debt or detain the property alleged and then the eleven 
also swear that they believe him to speak the truth; and the defendant is 
then entitled to judgment. 3 Bl. Com. 343; Steph. Pl. 124. Blackstone 
compares this mode of trial to the canonical purgation of the catholic 
clergy, and to the decisory oath of the civil, law. See Oath, decisory. 
     13. Trial by witnesses. This species of trial by witnesses, or per 
testes, is without the intervention of a jury 
     14. This is the only method of trial known to the civil law, in which 
the judge is left to form in his own breast his sentence upon the credit of 
the witnesses examined; but it is very rarely used in the common law, which 
prefers the trial by jury in almost every instance. 
     15. In England, when a widow brings a writ of dower, and the tenant 
pleads that the tenant is not dead, this being looked upon as a dilatory 
plea, is, in favor of the widow, and for greater expedition, allowed to be 
tried by witnesses examined before the judges; and so, says Finch, shall no 
other case in our law. Finch's Law, 423. But Sir Edward Coke mentions 
others: as to try whether the tenant in a real action was duly summoned; or 
the validity of a challenge to a juror; so that Finch's observation must be 
confined to the trial of direct and not collateral issues. And in every 
case, Sir Edward Coke lays it down, that the affirmative must be proved by 
two witnesses at least. 3 Bl. Com. 336. 
    

277 Moby Thesaurus words for "trial":
      Olympic games, Olympics, R and D, acid test, adverse circumstances,
      adversity, affliction, aggravation, agony, anguish, annoyance,
      approach, arrangement, assay, assize, attempt, audition, bad luck,
      bad news, bane, basic training, bedevilment, bid,
      blank determination, blight, blue book, bore, bother, botheration,
      bothersomeness, bout, briefing, brouillon, bummer, calvary, care,
      change of venue, check, checking, clearing the decks, complication,
      concours, conditional, contest, control, control experiment,
      controlled experiment, court-martial, crack, crashing bore,
      criterion, cross, cross-examination, crown of thorns, crucial test,
      crucible, curse, cut and try, cut-and-try, deltoid, derby,
      determination, determined, devilment, difficulties, difficulty,
      distress, docimasy, dogging, downer, drag, dry run, dual, effort,
      empirical, empiricism, encounter, endeavor, engagement, enquiry,
      equipment, essay, exam, examen, examination, exasperation,
      experiment, experimental, experimental design, experimental method,
      experimental proof, experimentalism, experimentation, exploratory,
      familiarization, fan-shaped, feeling out, fiery ordeal, fight,
      final, final examination, first draft, fixing, fling, foundation,
      gambit, game, games, go, great go, grief, groundwork, gymkhana,
      harassment, hard knocks, hard life, hard lot, hard luck,
      hard times, hardcase, hardship, harrying, hassle, headache,
      hearing, heartbreak, heuristic, hit and miss, hit-or-miss, honors,
      hounding, inquest, inquiry, inquisition, irritant, irritation,
      joust, jury trial, kiteflying, lawsuit, lick, litigation,
      makeready, making ready, manufacture, match, matching, meet,
      meeting, midsemester, midterm, misery, misfortune, mistrial,
      mobilization, molestation, move, noble experiment, nuisance,
      number, offer, oral, oral examination, ordeal, persecution, pest,
      pilot, plague, planning, plight, plural, pragmatism,
      prearrangement, predicament, prelim, preliminaries, preliminary,
      preliminary act, preliminary step, prep, preparation,
      preparatory study, preparing, prepping, prerequisite, pressure,
      pretreatment, probation, probationary, probative, probatory,
      problem, processing, proof, propaedeutic, proving, provision,
      provisional, quiz, rally, readying, rencontre,
      research and development, resolute, rigor, rough draft,
      rough sketch, rule of thumb, sample, sea of troubles, shot,
      singular, sorrow, sounding out, spadework, stab, standard, step,
      stress, stress of life, stroke, strong bid, suffering,
      take-home examination, tentative, tentative method, tentativeness,
      test, test case, testing, three, three-in-one, tilt, touchstone,
      tournament, tourney, training, treatment, triadic, trial and error,
      trial by jury, trial run, trial-and-error, trials and tribulations,
      triangular, tribulation, trinal, trine, triple, triplex, tripos,
      triune, trouble, troubles, try, trying, tryout, undertaking,
      vale of tears, venture, venturesome, verification, verificatory,
      vexation, vexatiousness, vicissitude, visitation, viva, warm-up,
      whack, whirl, willing, woe, worriment, worry, written,
      written examination