acquittal

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Acquittal

The legal and formal certification of the innocence of a person who has been charged with a crime.

Acquittals in fact take place when a jury finds a verdict of not guilty. Acquittals in law take place by operation of law such as when a person has been charged as an Accessory to the crime of Robbery and the principal has been acquitted.

acquittal

n. what an accused criminal defendant receives if he/she is found not guilty. It is a verdict (a judgment in a criminal case) of not guilty. (See: acquit)

acquittal

a decision of a court that a defendant prosecuted for a criminal offence is not guilty. It also describes the Scottish verdict of NOT PROVEN.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006

ACQUITTAL, contracts. A release or discharge from an obligation or engagement. According to Lord Coke there are three kinds of acquittal, namely; 1. By deed, when the party releases the obligation; 2. By prescription; 3. By tenure. Co. Lit. 100, a.

ACQUITTAL, crim. law practice. The absolution of a party charged with a crime or misdemeanor.
2. Technically speaking, acquittal is - the absolution of a party accused on a trial before a traverse jury. 1 N. & M. 36; 3 McCord, 461.
3. Acquittals are of two kinds, in fact and in law. The former takes place when the jury upon trial finds a verdict of not guilty; the latter when a man is charged merely as an accessary, and the principal has been acquitted. 2 Inst. 384. An acquittal is a bar to any future prosecution for the offence alleged in the first indictment.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.

References in periodicals archive ?

The Sandiganbayan's First Division had not received any appeal from prosecutors as of late afternoon on Friday on Revilla's acquittal of charges that he pocketed up to P200 million in kickbacks from ghost projects given to Napoles' bogus groups and financed by Revilla's Priority Development Assistance Fund.

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On appeal by the prosecution, the Court of Appeal in February 2016 set aside the policemen's acquittal and ordered them to enter defence.

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'Consequently, we order that pending the filing, hearing and final determination of the applicant's intended appeal, the respondents' acquittal by the Court of Appeal is, hereby, stayed and the respondents shall be held in police custody.'

Supreme Court quashes acquittal of Iranian terror convicts

At the close of the prosecution's case, defense teams retain the right to submit a "judgment of acquittal." So far the Sabra defense has been the only team to file for one according to STL spokesperson Wajed Ramadan.

STL defense teams press on despite Oneissi aquittal move

News of the decision to appeal by prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia may only boost Seselj's popularity among his hardline supporters, who cheered his acquittal on March 31.

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Represented by the Special Public Prosecutor, B V Acharya, Karnataka would make out a straight forward case on why the order of acquittal should be set aside.

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Agencies are concerned as over 150 acquittals have taken place since the group was banned

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Despite the acquittal of Richard Brodett and Jorge Joseph by the trial court, the case was elevated to the CA by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

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The acquittal came from the special additional district and sessions court in Kozhikode.

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What I didn't believe was the judicial system," said Fernandez in an interview moments after her acquittal. "Thirteen years is a very long time."