acquittal
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 284 U.S. 390 - Dunn v. United States · 1932Most cited · 3,620 citing opinions
inconsistent verdict
We interpret the acquittal as no more than their assumption of a power which they had no right to exercise, but to which they were disposed through lenity.
How the Supreme Court has restated “acquittal”
Each Supreme Court definition of “acquittal,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “acquittal”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “acquittal” — 4,052 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1914–2013
- ORIGINAL
The verdict and judgment acquitting petitioner under the indictment does not render the present controversy res judicata. The issue presented by the traverse of the indictment was not identical with the matter determined by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. And, besides, the acquittal under the indictment was not equivalent to an affirmative finding of innocence, but merely to an adjudication that the proof was not sufficient to overcome all reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused.
effect in administrative inquiry
a ruling by the court that the evidence is insufficient to convict," a "factual finding [that] necessarily establishes] the criminal defendant's lack of criminal culpability," and any other "rulin[g] which relate[s] to the ultimate question of guilt or innocence." "Scott, " 437 U. S., at 91, 98 , and n. 11 (internal quotation marks omitted).