trial - (law) the determination of a person's innocence or guilt by due process of law; "he had a fair trial and the jury found him guilty"

jurisprudence, law - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"

phylogenesis, phylogeny, evolution - (biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms