_Beginning of a Civil Case._--A civil suit is usually started by the filing of a complaint containing a statement of the facts, with the court, which then issues a summons directing the sheriff or constable to notify the defendant to appear and make answer. If the plaintiff is a creditor and has reason to believe that the defendant is preparing to dispose of his property with the intention of defrauding him, he may ask the court to issue a _writ of attachment_ authorizing the sheriff to take possession of the property. Or if the defendant is in wrongful possession of property belonging to the plaintiff the latter may ask the court to issue a _writ of replevin_ requiring the officers to seize the property and turn it over to the plaintiff. In both cases, however, the plaintiff is required to give a bond for the costs of the suit and for the return of the property in case the court should decide that it does not properly belong to him. The defendant now makes an answer or plea in which he denies the charges of the plaintiff as a whole or in part, or admits their truth but denies the right of action, or maintains that the court has no jurisdiction, or pleads something else in bar of the action. The complaint of the plaintiff and the answer of the defendant are known as the _pleadings_. _The Trial._--The issue is now joined and the case is ready for trial. If it is a suit in equity, it is tried by the judge alone without a jury. If it is a suit at law, either party may demand a jury, but if both parties agree to waive a jury trial, the case is tried by the judge alone. Frequently civil cases are tried without juries, the parties preferring to leave the decision to the judge. If, however, a jury trial is preferred, a list of qualified persons is prepared and from this list twelve persons, or six, as the parties may agree upon, are selected to try the case. After the jury is sworn the attorney for the plaintiff generally makes a statement of the facts upon which he rests his case. He then calls his witnesses, who testify to their knowledge of the facts as they are questioned by counsel. When the attorney for the plaintiff has completed the examination of each witness, the attorney for the defendant is allowed to cross-examine him. Witnesses are required to confine their testimony to what they know to be the truth, and are not permitted to tell what they believe to be true or what they have learned from mere hearsay.