The parquet is the office of the prosecution, in some countries, responsible for presenting legal case

Legal case

A legal case is a dispute between opposing parties resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case may be either civil or criminal...

s at criminal trials against individuals or parties suspected of breaking the law.

The word literally means "wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

en floor

Floor

A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces using modern technology...

"; this is because, as opposed to the judge

Judge

A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...

s, 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" (magistrature assise) or "magistrates of the bench" (magistrats du siège) while the prosecutors are sometimes referred to as "standing magistrates" (magistrature debout).

In France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, the parquet général is the public prosecutor's office of the appellate court (cour d'appel) or the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation

Court of Cassation (France)

The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...

).hi

In Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, the prosecutor's office, the "Public Ministry" (Ministério Público

Public Ministry (Brazil)

The Public Ministry is the Brazilian body of independent public prosecutors, working both at the federal and state level. It operates independently from the three branches of government, and was referred to by Constitutional scholar Michel Temer as the "Fourth Branch".There are three levels of...

), is metonymically referred to as the parquet.

In Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, the prosecutor's office is also called the parchet (parˈket).

In Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, the word parquet is translated as parket.