committal hearing

noun

variants or committal proceeding

British, law

: a hearing in a magistrates' court at which evidence of a crime is presented to determine whether there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed the crime with which he or she is charged and if there is evidence of possible guilt to determine to the court to which the defendant is to be committed (see commit entry 1 sense 1f)

Lawyers for the accused executives are seeking to have the charges dismissed, and have argued The Age's December 8 story showed the prosecution or Australian Federal Police were holding back information vital to the committal hearing.

—Paul Anderson, The Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia), 25 Jan. 2013

Word History

First Known Use

1898, in the meaning defined above

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