Legal Definitions - sessions

In a legal and governmental context, sessions refers to the formal periods during which a court, legislative body, or other official group convenes to conduct its designated business. These periods are when the body is officially assembled and actively engaged in its duties, such as hearing cases, debating laws, making decisions, or conducting investigations.

• Example 1: The Supreme Court begins its new term with a series of oral argumentsessions, where lawyers present their cases before the justices.

  Explanation: This illustrates sessions as the specific, scheduled periods when the Supreme Court formally meets to hear arguments and perform its judicial function, marking the active phase of its work for the term.

• Example 2: After a long recess, the city council resumed its weekly sessions to discuss the new zoning proposals and budget allocations.

  Explanation: Here, sessions refers to the regular, formal meetings of the city council where members gather to deliberate, vote, and carry out their legislative and administrative responsibilities for the municipality.

• Example 3: A special parliamentary committee held several closed-door sessions to review classified intelligence documents related to national security.

  Explanation: This example demonstrates sessions as formal, structured meetings convened by an official body (the parliamentary committee) to conduct specific business—in this case, reviewing sensitive information—even if not open to the public.