Scotch verdict
Americannoun
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a verdict of not proven: acceptable in certain cases in Scottish criminal law.
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any inconclusive decision or declaration.
Etymology
Origin of Scotch verdict
First recorded in 1910–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the prosecutor's exoneration of Donovan was something like the Scotch verdict of "not proven."
From Time Magazine Archive
As I recall it, they never proved that it did, or at best reached a Scotch verdict.
From Time Magazine Archive
They would have us deliver a Scotch verdict upon all the questions which arise as soon as one attempts to take in the more general significance of the glands of internal secretion.
From The Glands Regulating Personality by Louis Berman M.D.
We know it is very much like the Scotch verdict of "non proven," but still there is no doubt among fair-minded men.
From Cuba Its Past, Present, and Future by Arthur D. Hall
The jury, as is known, brought in a Scotch verdict, whereupon the prisoner was immediately upon his feet with a vehement protest.
From Lewis Rand by Mary Johnston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
