Arrest of judgment, Formerly an unsuccessful defendant might move that the judgment for the plaintiff be arrested or withheld, notwithstanding a verdict given, on the ground that there was some substantial error appearing on the face of the record which vitiated the proceedings. (See now R.S.C. Ords. XXVII. And XXXIX.) Judgment may be arrested for good cause in criminal cases, if the indictment be insufficient. See Archbold's Criminal Pleading.
Means the staying of judgment after its entry, especially, a court's refusal to render or enforce a judgment because of a defect apparent from the record. At Common Law, courts have the power to arrest judgment for intrinsic causes appearing on the record, as when the verdict differs materially from the pleading or when the case alleged in the pleadings is legally insufficient. Today, that type of defect must typically be objected to before trial or before judgment is entered, so that the motion in arrest of judgment has been largely superseded, Black Law Dictionary 7th Edn., p. 105.
An arrest of judgment (under common law) was the technical term describing the act of a trial judge refusing to enter judgment on the verdict because of an error appearing on the face of the record that rendered the judgment invalid, United States v. Sisson, 399 US 267, 90 S Ct, 2117, 2125 (1970)
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