The is the office of the prosecution, in some countries, responsible for presenting legal cases at criminal trials against individuals or parties accused of breaking the law.
The word literally means "wooden floor"; this is because, as opposed to the judges, who sit on an elevated platform during trials, the prosecution pleads standing on the floor. This also explains why the judges are sometimes referred to as "sitting magistrates" () or "magistrates of the bench" () while the prosecutors are sometimes referred to as "standing magistrates" ().
In France, the is the public prosecutor's office of the appellate court () or the Supreme Court ().
In Brazil, Portugal and Macau, the prosecutor's office, the "Public Ministry" (), is metonymically referred to as the parquet.
In Romania, the prosecutor's office, the "Public Ministry" (), is also called the () and is allocated to a certain court at the local or national level.
In Dutch, the word parquet is translated as and it is also used to generally refer to the 'Public Ministry' ().