in Law, one of the modes of prosecuting an offender. In English law, it is a written accusation of one or more persons of a crime or misdemeanor, preferred to, and presented upon oath by, a grand jury. In Scotch Law, it is the name of the summons, or libel, upon which criminals are cited to take their trial before the High Court of Justiciary, and is drawn in the form of a syllogism.