trial
n. A formal inquiry designed to prove the blameless characters of judges, advocates, and jurors.
 | | |  | | |  | | |  | | |  |
Cynical Quotations
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.
— Ambrose Bierce
| | | | | | | | | | | | |