KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

1202

VERGERS

VERBAL

known," that is, one which leaves open either the question whether any crime was committed or the identity of the criminal.— Partial ver dict. In criminal law, a verdict by which the jury acquit the defendant as to a part of the accusation and find him guilty as to the residue. State v. McGee, 55 S. C. 247, 33 S. E. 353, 74 Am. St Rep. 741; U. S. v. Watkins, 28 Fed. Gas. 419.— Privy verdict. One given after the judge has left or adjourned the court and the jury, being agreed, in order to be delivered from their confinement obtain leave to give their ver dict privily to the judge out of court Such a verdict is of no force unless afterwards affirmed by a public verdict given openly in court This practice is now superseded by that of render ing a sealed verdict See Young v. Seymour, 4 Neb. 89.— Public verdict. A verdict openly delivered by the jury in court. Withee v. Rowe,. 45 Me. 571.— Quotient verdict. A money ver dict the amount of which is fixed by the follow ing process: Each juror writes down the sum he wishes to award by the verdict and these amounts are all added together, and the total is divided by twelve, (the number of jurors,) and the quotient stands as the verdict of the jury by their agreement. See Hamilton v. Owego Water Works, 22 App. Div. 573, 48 N. Y. Supp. 106; Moses v. Railroad Co., 3 Misc. Rep. 322, 23 N. Y. Supp. 23.— Sealed verdict. See SEALED.— Special verdict. A special finding of the facts of a case by a jury, leaving to the court the application of the law to the facts thus found. 1 Archb. Pr. K. B. 213; 3 Bl. Coram. 377; Statler v. U. S., 157 U. S. 277, 15 Sup. Ct. 616, 39 L. Ed. 700; Day v. Webb, 28 Conn. 144; Wallingford v. Dunlap, 14 Pa. 32: McCormick v. Royal Ins. Co., 163 Pa. 184, 29 Atl. 747.— Verdict subject to opinion of court. A verdict returned by the jury, the entry of judgment upon whdch is subject to the determination of points of law reserved by the court upon the trial. VEREDICTUM. L. Lat In old English law. A verdict; a declaration of the truth of a matter in issue, submitted to a jury for trial. Veredictum, quasi dictum veritatis; ut judicium quasi juris dictum. Co. Litt 226. The verdict is, as it were, the dictum of truth; as the judgment is the dictum of law. In English law. The compass of the royal court, which bounds the jurisdiction of the lord steward of the household; it seems to have been twelve miles about. Britt. 68. A quantity of land from fifteen to thirty acres. 28 Edw. I. Al so a stick, or rod, whereby one is admitted tenant to a copyhold estate. Old Nat Brev. 17. VERGEIiT. In Saxon law. A mulct or fine for a crime. See WEBEGILD. VERGENS AD INOPIAM. L. Lat In Scotch law. Verging towards poverty; in declining circumstances. 2 Karnes, Eq. 8. Officers who carry white wands before the justices of either bench. Cowell. Mentioned in VERGE, or VIRGE. VERGERS. In English law. VEBEBOT. Sax. In old records. A packet-boat or transport vessel. Cowell.

or prescribed by statute In particular cases. Musgrove v. Jackson, 59 Miss. 390. —Verbal note. A memorandum or note, in diplomacy, not signed, sent when an affair has continued a long time without any reply, in order to avoid the appearance of an urgency which perhaps is not required; and, on the other hand, to guard against the supposition that it is forgotten, or that there is an inten tion of not prosecuting it any further. Whar ton.— Verbal process. In Louisiana. Process verbal, (q. v.) Verbis itandum ubi nulla ambignitas. One must abide by the words where there is no ambiguity. Tray. Lat Max. 612. Verbum imperfect! temporis rem ad hue imperfectam signincat. The imper fect tense of the verb indicates an incomplete matter. Mactier v. Frith, 6 Wend. (N. Y.) 103, 120, 21 Am. Dec. 262. VERDEROR. An officer of the king's forest, who is sworn to maintain and keep the assizes of the forest, and to view, receive, and enroll the attachments and presentments of all manner of trespasses of vert and veni son in the forest Manw. c. 6, § 5. VERDICT. In practice. The formal and unanimous decision or finding of a jury, im paneled and sworn for the trial of a cause, upon the matters or questions duly submitted to them upon the trial. The word "verdict" has a well-defined signi fication in law. It means the decision of a jury, and it never means the decision ot a court or a referee or a commissioner. In common lan guage, the word "verdict" is sometimes used in a more extended sense, but m law it is always used to mean the decision of a jury; and we must suppose that the legislature intended to use the word as it is used in law. Kerner v. Petigo, 25 Kan. 656. —Adverse verdict. Where a party, appealing from an allowance of damages by commission ers, recovers a verdict in his favor, but for a less amount of damages than had been originally allowed, such verdict is adverse to him, wathin the meaning of his undertaking to pay costs if the verdict should be adverse to him. Hamblin v. Barnstable County, 16 Gray (Mass.) 256.— False verdict. An untrue verdict Formerly, if a jury gave a false verdict, the party injur ed by it might sue out and prosecute a writ of attaint against them, either at common law or on the statute 11 Hen. VII. c. 24, at his election, for the purpose of reversing the judg ment and punishing the jury for their verdict; but not where the jury erred merely in point of law, if they found according to the judge's di rection. The practice of setting aside verdicts and granting new trials, however, so superseded the use of attaints that there is no instance of one to be found in the books of reports later than in the time of Elizabeth, and it was alto gether abolished by 6 Geo. IV. c 50, § 60. Wharton.— General verdict. A verdict where by the jury find either for the plaintiff or for the defendant in general terms; the ordinary form of a verdict Glenn v. Sumner, 132 U. S. 152, 10 Sup. Ct 41, 33 L. Ed, 301; Settle v. Alison, 8 Ga. 201, 52 Am. Dec. 393; Childs v. Carpenter, 87 Me. 114, 32 Atl. 780.— Open ver dict. A verdict of a coroner's jury which finds that the subject "came to his death by means to the jury unknown," or "came to his death at the hands of a person or persons to the jury un