Legal terms

This page contains vocabulary regarding jurisdiction and legal procedures.

Word	Translation
Places
bo'DIj	court [of law]
bo'DIj pa'	courtroom
bo'DIj qach	courthouse
General nouns
bIj	punishment
chut	law
bo'DIj qaD	lawsuit
bo'DIj nompuq	forensic evidence
HeS	crime
meqba'	type of legal proceeding
mIwba'	trial
nompuq	authority, evidence, attestation, reference, citation
pach moQ	high court gavel
rIchwIn	directive, injunction
People
chut qeSwI'	lawyer
jantor	witness (in court)
loHwI'	magistrate [lit. "administrator"]
wuqwI'	juror
wuqwI' ghom	jury (as a group)
'oDwI'	arbitrator, arbiter
Verbs
bIj	punish
chun	be innocent
DIS	confess
DIv	be guilty
ghIpDIj	court martial
HeS	commit a crime
jIb	execute by hanging
loH	administer
muH	execute
nguH	testify
ruv	justice
wuq	decide
wuqHa'	commute (a judicial sentence)
yoj	judgment
'oD	arbitrate, mediate

Additional information

• bo'DIj is the institution of the court, a judicial organization. (qepHom 2018)
• Yes, ghIpDIj is a verb; It's one of the rare bisyllabic verbs.

Okrand did not tell us a word for "judge", but he said what it's not:

ngoH is "judge" in the sense of estimating: "I judge that to be two meters away", so that won't work in this context. Also, an 'oDwI' is an "arbitrator" or "mediator," so that doesn't seem right.

A jury is not a Klingon institution, of course, so there's no readymade term. Maltz thought if you called a juror a wuqwI' ("decider") that would get the idea across. A jury – the panel or group of jurors – could be wuqwI' ghom. And for extra clarity, you could add bo'DIj, as in bo'DIj wuqwI' ghom. (1)

Canon examples

vImuHlu' net wuqHa'.
My death sentence was commuted! (Star Trek: Enterprise ep. 4.15)

See also

• Axanar lawsuit of 2016
• Who owns the Klingon language?

References

1 : QelIS boqHarmey – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Klingon p. 233