Standing mute

A prisoner, arraigned for treason or felony, was said to "stand mute," when he refused to plead, or answered foreign to the purpose, or, after a plea of not guilty, would not put himself upon the country.

— Standing orders. rules and forms regulating the procedure of the two houses of parliament, each having its own. They are of equal force in every parliament, except so far as they are altered or suspended from time to time. Cox, Inst. 136; May, Pari. Pr. 185.

Defined under Stand in Black's Law Dictionary.