Guilty Verdict - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: guilty verdictguilty verdict
guilty verdict Source: Federal Judicial Center ...
verdict
verdict [alteration (partly conformed to Medieval Latin veredictum) of Anglo-French veirdit statement, finding, verdict, from Old French veir true (from Latin verus) + dit saying, from Latin dictum] 1 : the usually unanimous finding or decision of a jury on one or more matters (as counts of an indictment or complaint) submitted to it in trial that ordinarily in civil actions is for the plaintiff or for the defendant and in criminal actions is guilty or not guilty compare judgment compromise verdict : a verdict produced not by sincere unanimous agreement on guilt or liability but by an improper surrender of individual convictions ;specif : an impermissible verdict by a jury that is unable to agree on liability and so compromises on an award of damages that is less than what it should be if the plaintiff has a right of recovery free from any doubts di·rect·ed verdict 1 : a verdict granted by the court when the party with the burden of proof has failed to present sufficie...
Verdict
Verdict [fr. vere dictum, Lat.], the determination of a jury declared to a judge.1. A jury's finding or decision on factual issue of a case 2. Loosely, in a non jury trial, a judge's resolution of the issues of a case.The verdict is either general or special. A general verdict is given, viva voce, by the jury, thus, 'We find for the plaintiff, damages -,' or, if for the defendant, then, 'We find for the defendant.' In criminal cases a general verdict is either Guilty, or Not Guilty. If there be several issues, the verdict may be distributed, some issues being found for the plaintiff and others for the defendant. A verdict must comprehend the whole issues submitted to a jury in the particular cause, otherwise the judgment founded upon it may be reversed. See SPECIAL VERDICT; PREVERSE VERDICT....
not guilty by reason of insanity
not guilty by reason of insanity 1 : a plea by a criminal defendant who intends to raise an insanity defense used in jurisdictions that require such a plea in order for an insanity defense to be presented 2 : a verdict rendered by a jury in a criminal case that finds that the defendant was insane at the time of committing the crime as determined by application of the test for insanity used in the jurisdiction compare guilty but mentally ill NOTE: A verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity usually results in the commitment of the defendant to a mental institution. Such a verdict, however, may allow the defendant to be released, sometimes into the custody or care of another (as a family member). ...
Fox's Act
Fox's Act, 32 Geo. 3, c. 60 [the (English) Libel Act, 1792], which secured to juries, upon indictments for libel, the right of pronouncing a general verdict of guilty or not guilty upon the whole matter in issue, and no longer bound them to find a verdict of guilty on proof of the publication of the paper charged to be a libel, and of the sense ascribed to it in the indictment. See LIBEL. Consult Odgers on Libel....
Acquittal
Acquittal, The legal certification usually by jury verdict that an accused person is not guilty of the charged offence. [fr. acquitter, Fr.; quietus, Lat., to free, acquit, or discharged], a deliverance and setting free of a person from the suspicion or guilt of an offence; also to be free from entries and molestations by a superior lord, for services issuing out of lands, Cowel. Acquittal is of two kinds--(1) Acquittal in deed, as when a person is cleared by verdict; and (2) Acquittal in law, as if two be indicted for a felony, the one as principal and the other as accessory, and the jury acquit the principal, by law the accessory is also acquitted, 2 Inst. 384.Means the legal certification, usually by jury verdict, that an accused person is not guilty of the charged offence, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 24.If person is acquitted and ordered to be discharged it is illegal any longer to detain him, and the duty of seeing that he is at once discharged is upon the governor of the p...
Lunatic
Lunatic. By the (English) Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23), s. 20, the word 'lunatic,' except in the phrase 'criminal lunatic' and in relation to persons detained as lunatics outside England, shall cease to be used in relation to any person of or alleged to be of unsound mind, and the words ''person of unsound mind,' 'person,' 'patient of unsound mind,' or 'of unsound mind,' or such other expression as the context may require are to be substituted in any enactment or document thereunder. See PERSON OF UNSOUND MIND. Mental Treatment Act, 1930 (20 & 21 Geo. 5, c. 23).The general principle governing contracts entered into by insane persons is laid down in The Imperial Loan Co. v. Stone, (1892) 1 QB 559. 'Where a person enters into a contract, and afterwards alleges that he was so insane at the time that he did not know what he was doing and proves the allegation, the contract is as binding on him in every respect, whether it is executory or executed, as if he had been sa...
not guilty
not guilty 1 : a plea by a criminal defendant who intends to contest the charges compare guilty, nolo contendere NOTE: Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, if a defendant refuses to plead or if the defendant is a corporation that fails to appear the court must enter a plea of not guilty on the defendant's behalf. 2 : a verdict rendered by a jury acquitting a criminal defendant upon finding that the prosecution has not proven the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt ...
guilty but mentally ill
guilty but mentally ill : a verdict available in some jurisdictions in cases involving an insanity defense in which the defendant is considered as if having been found guilty but is committed to a mental hospital rather than imprisoned if an examination shows a need for psychiatric treatment compare not guilty by reason of insanity ...
Murder
Murder [fr. morthor, morthen, Sax.; murdrum, Low Lat.]. It is thus defined by Coke (3 Inst. 47): 'When a person of sound memory and discretion unlawfully killeth any reasonable creature in being, with malice aforethought, either express or implied'; see 4 Bl. Com. 195. Consult Russell on Crimes; Arch. Cr. Pl.; Steph. Dig.(1) The person committing the offence must be conscious of doing wrong, and able to discern between good and evil. See IDIOT; LUNATIC; DRUNKENNESS AND MACNAUGHTON'S CASE.(2) Death must result within a year and a day after the cause of death administered, see R. v. Dyson, (1908) 2 KB 454.(3) The person killed must be a reasonable creature in being, and under the king's peace.(4) The killing must be with malice aforethought, express or implied, and malice is implied from the perpetration of any felony, however absent from the mind of the perpetrator any intention to kill may be. When the act by which death is caused is done with the intention of causing death (See Indian...
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