The Book "understanding the Law" Fourth Edition, by Donald L Carper and Bill W. West

A Day in Court

The book "Understanding the Law" fourth edition, by Donald L Carper and

Bill W. West defines the word court as "a government body that administers justice by applying laws to civil controversies and criminal offences. Under the control of the judge it also includes attorneys, clerk, and others to conduct and facilitate its proceedings". A judge is defined as " the official who proceeds over a court". The book defines a defendant as " in a civil trial, the person from whom money damages, and other relief is sought by the plaintiff". It is also the accused. A plaintiff is said to be in trial "the person trying to recover money, damages, or the relief from a defendant". Small claims court is defined as " a court with jurisdiction to decide civil controversies of a relatively minor or insignificant nature as far a society in general is concerned.

When I arrived at the Massillon Municipal Court I stepped out of the elevator on the second floor where I was greeted by three security guards. I was told to empty my pockets and place my purse and folder on the table. They put my belongings threw a machine, then asked me to walk threw a medal detector. The alarm went off and I was asked to step to the side. One of the men asked me to hold out my arms. He used a hand held sensor to scan for objects. It was the medal on my shoes that set of the alarm. Once I was cleared I gathered my belongings and walked down the hall toward the small claims courtroom. As I walked down the hall I observed various flags; The first flag was of the United States. There were also multiple pictures of judges hanging on the wall. Many people continued to go through the security area. One guy seemed to be treated aggressively from the time he stepped off the elevator. He was dressed in baggy black clothes, mid shin boots, and multiple face piercing. It seemed to me that they were stereotyping him. The tone that the guards used with him was rude even before the detector went off. After he was cleared a clerk opened up the courtroom doors and announced " Small Claims Court is now open".

I sat in the back row observing the courtroom. As people came in I noted that they seemed to be mostly blue-collar people. There were to people dressed up. This surprised me .I thought based on my television history of courtrooms every one dressed up.

The courtroom was arranged as I expected. The judge's area was at twelve-o clock, the defendants and plaintiffs at six o'clock and the jury box at nine o'clock. The room also had two clerk desks in the middle and a "public access computer" by the jury box. I noted that there were four American flags in the room,