special verdict
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 303 U.S. 26 - United States v. Esnault-Pelterie · 1938Most cited · 138 citing opinions
the findings of the Court of Claims 'are to be treated like the verdict of a jury, and we are not at liberty to refer to the evidence, any more than to the opinion, for the purpose of eking out, controlling, or modifying their scope
How the Supreme Court has restated “special verdict”
Each Supreme Court definition of “special verdict,” 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 “special verdict”
Court decisions citing the 5 opinions that defined “special verdict” — 430 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 5 definitions, chronological · 1855–1938
- ORIGINAL
If a special verdict be ambiguous, or imperfect—if it find but the evidence of facts, and not the facts themselves, or finds but part of the facts in issue, and is silent as to others, it is a mistrial, and the court of error must order a venire de novo. They can render no judgment on an imperfect verdict, or case stated.
sufficiency
A special verdict is where the jury find the facts of the case, and refer the decision of the cause upon those facts to the court, with a conditional conclusion, that if the court should be of opinion, upon the whole matter thus found, that the plaintiff has a good cause of action, they then find for the plaintiff; and if otherwise, they then find for the defendant; and it is of the very essence of a special verdict, that the jury should find the facts on which the court is to pronounce the judgment according to law, and the court, in giving judgment, is confined to the facts so found; and every special verdict, in order to enable the appellate court to act upon it, must find the facts, and not merely state the evidence of facts.
Correct practice in such cases is, that the jury find the facts of the case and refer the decision of the cause upon those facts to the court, with a conditional conclusion that if the court should be of opinion, upon the whole matter as found, that the plaintiff is entitled to recover, then they find for the plaintiff, but if otherwise, then they find for the defendant.
Strictly speaking, a special verdict is where the jury find the facts of the case and refer the decision of the cause to the court, with a conditional conclusion, that if the court is of the opinion, upon the whole matter as found, that the plaintiff is entitled to recover, then the jury find for the plaintiff; but if otherwise, then they find for the defendant.