| adalat khaneh | house of justice |
| adliyyeh | the ministry of justice; (secular) court |
| aein-e dadrasi-ye madani | civil procedure |
| ahkam | statutes, ordinances and laws (of Islam) which concern human conduct (cf. eateqadat) |
| ahl or-raay | people of opinion; those who advocated rational reasoning in the process of Ijtehad (cf. ahlolhadith) |
| ahlol hadith | people of hadith : those who advocated strict adherence to the Traditions of the Prophet Moham-mad in the process of itjehad (cf. ahl or-raay) |
| aqdal-qodat | the most judicious judge (cf. qadil qodat) |
| aslol baraah | the principle of presuming innocence until guilt is proven |
| asl ot-tasavi | the principle of equality (of all people before law) |
| ayatollah | sign of God: a relatively modern title of respect for leading Shii mojtahids |
| bayyinah | proof |
| darugheh | sheriff |
| dasturol amal | procedural and operational manual |
| divan | ministry; office of administration |
| divan-begi | a high legal official; public prosecutor |
| divan-e aala | the supreme court |
| divan-e adalat-e ozma | the grand office of justice |
| divan-e adliyyeh | (secular) court; chief magistrate court |
| divan-e islah | the court of first instance |
| divan-e tamiz | the high court of appeal |
| divan-khaneh | ministry (of justice); (secular) court |
| divan-khaneh-ye aazan | the grand house of secular judiciary |
| dowreh-ye jadid | the new series |
| eateqadat | doctrines pertaining to matters of belief (cf. ahkham) |
| fatva, pi. fatava | a sentence or opinion pronounced by a mojtahid or a mofti |
| Fedaiyan-e Islam | the devotees of Islam: a contemporary zealotic movement in Iran similar to the Moslem Brother-hood in the Arab world |
| ftqh | comprehension: science of the Sharia; Islamic jurisprudence |
| faqih | a specialist in fiqh |
| hadd, pl. hodud | limit: punishment specified in the Koran |
| Hadith | sayings of the Prophet Mohammad |
| hiyal | tricks: legal fictions |
| hokm | a legal verdict |
| Ibadat | the division of ahkam or Sharia which pertains to man's duties in relation to God; rituals and matters of worship (cf. Moamalat) |
| ijmaa | consensus (of the Islamic community or jurors) |
| ijtehad | endeavour: the process of extracting and formulating new rules from the Koran and other authentic sources of the Sharia (cf. taqlid) |
| imam | in general, anyone who occupies a leading position (in religious matters); in Shiism, any one of the twelve descendants of Ali, regarded as the legitimate successor of the Prophet Mohammad and hence the rightful rule of the Islamic community (equivalent to caliph in Sunnism) |
| imamate | the office, rule or rank of an imam |
| imam-e mostaqarr | permanent or established imam |
| imam-e mostowdaa | temporary or entrusted imam |
| imam jomeh | the leader of the congregational Friday prayers |
| isnad | ascription or tracing of a hadith to the Prophet Mohammad by an examination and assertion of the (uninterrupted) chain of authorities who have transmitted it |
| Istebdad-e Saghir | Short Tyranny: the period of 1909–1911 in which Mohammad Ali Shah of Qajor abolished the newly established Majlis (parliament) and constitution of Iran and ruled as an absolute monarch |
| istihsan | a method of ijtehad in the Hanafi Schools, in which ruling was done by consideration of public interest and equity even though it run contrary to the implications of qiyas |
| istinaf | appeal |
| istislah | the method of ijtehad in the Maliki School similar to Istihsan |
| Ithnaashari | of Ithnaashariyyah |
| Ithnaashariyyah | the Twelvers, the main sect of the Shii faith which regard the twelve descendants of Ali as the legitimate and rightful successors of the Prophet Mohammad, and hence their imams |
| jenayat | felony |
| jonheh | misdemeanour |
| kalantar | magistrate |
| kar-gozariha | legal agencies or tribunals associated with the foreign embassies in Iran before 1925 |
| katib | writer; a clerk of the court |
| khalaf | petty offence |
| khana-ye insaf | house of equity |
| Khatt-e Sharif-e Golkhaneh | Holy Edict of Rose Chamber: an edict which was promulgated by Soltan Abdol Majid of Turkey in 1839 and which launched reform and Westernization in the Ottoman Empire |
| kolah-e Sharei | a Sharei hat: a trick, a legal fiction, a face-saving device |
| mahakim-e orf | courts of customary law |
| mahakim-e solh | district courts |
| mahkameh | sing, of mahakim, a court or tribunal |
| Majlis, or in full, Majlis-e Shura-ye Melli | National Consultative Assembly; the Parliament |
| malik osh-shoara | the king of poets: the master poet |
| maslahat khaneh | house of consultation |
| mazalim | acts of injustice or inequity: a periodical audience granted by kings or state officials in which people brought up grievances and were adjudicated |
| Moamalat | the division of ahkam or Sharia which is concerned with man's relations with and duties towards other men; the civil and criminal code of the Sharia (cf. Ibadat) |
| moasir | contemporary |
| moddail omum | attorney general, public prosecutor |
| mofti | giver of fatva : a top religious and legal authority, mainly of Sunni world, who passes judgement on the basis of the opinions of a given mojtahid or school of jurisprudence |
| mojtahid | doer of ijtehad : the highest authority in Islamic jurisprudence who is entitled to derive new laws of Sharia directly from the Quran and other original sources (cf. moqallid) |
| mokarrar | repeated: the second of two items with the same number or characteristic |
| molla | learned: a (low-ranking) member of the clergy |
| moqallid | doer of taqlid ; one who adopts and follows uncritically the acts and views of a mojtahid in ahkam and eateqadat (cf. mojtahid) |
| mozakki | court clerk |
| mubadan-mubad | priest of priests: the highest religio-legal authority of the Zoroastrian religion in the Sassanian period in Iran |
| nazir | observer, overseer |
| nazr | vow; votive offerings |
| nezam-e jadid | the new, Western style military system introduced in Iran by the Crown Prince Abbas Mirza in the early 19th century |
| nezam-nameh | manual: rules of procedure |
| olol-amr | rulers |
| orf | customary law |
| osul | roots: that is, the four foundations of Islamic jurisprudence: the Koran, Sunna, qiyas and ijmaa |
| qada | litigation |
| qadi | judge |
| qadil-qodat | chief judge |
| qanun | law |
| qanun-e jaza | penal law |
| qanun-e madani | civil law |
| qiyas | reasoning by analogy; a method used in the process of ijtehad |
| raay | sound opinion |
| riba | interest |
| ruznameh | newspaper |
| sabt-e asnad | registry of (legal) documents |
| sadr-e aazam | prime minister |
| sadr os-sodur | the highest religio-legal position of the Safavid court corresponding to qadil-qodat and mubadan-mubad of the Abbasid and Sassanid courts, respectively |
| sepahdar | commander of army |
| sepansalar | commander-in-chief |
| shahneh | chief of the police |
| Sharia | the Islamic law |
| sheykhol Islam | a high religious title signifying spiritual leadership bestowed upon (Grand) Moftis or theologians of their rank |
| Shia | a heterodox Islamic sect which regards Ali and his descendants as rightful successors of Mohammad |
| Shii | of Shia doctrine or sect |
| shura-ye davari | judiciary council |
| shura-ye dowlat | council of ministers |
| siyasat osh-shariyyah | religious policy; ruling on the basis of expediency |
| Sunna | the Tradition of the Prophet Mohammad |
| Sunni | follower of Sunna; orthodox Moslem |
| taazir, pl. taazirat | a discretionary chastisement by the judge, used in the Islamic courts as a punishment for the (minor) offences (which do not entail a hadd) |
| taqlid | a preferential adoption and following of the views and action of a mojtahid (cf. ijtehad) |
| taklif | obligation, duty |
| tamiz | cassation (cf. divan-e tamiz) |
| Tanzimat | a reform programme carried out in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century |
| Tozuks | rules and ordinances; a set of rules attributed to Tamerlane |
| tuman | 10 rials of Iranian currency, equalling about 0.13 of one US dollar (1977 rate) |
| ulama | learned: scholars of traditional Islamic sciences |
| vakil | authorized representative; attorney |
| vakil or-reaya | attorney of the subjects; public prosecutor, attorney general | |
| vakilol-jaraim | criminal prosecutor |
| vaqf | wakf, religious endowment |
| velayat-e faqih | the sovereignty of or rule by the faqih; a Shii constitutional doctrine |
| voaaz | preachers |
| wali | governor |
| Yasa | rule and pattern: a set of decrees issued by Genghiz Khan and put into effect in his conquered territories, including Iran |
| yerlighs | ordinances: a set of decrees issued by Ghazan Khan, the grandson of Genghiz Khan |
| zaheri | of outward: apparent |
| zina | fornication |