| 释义 |
majority verdict
A verdict of a jury that is reached by a majority. Majority verdicts can be taken in both criminal and civil cases. In criminal cases the verdict need not be unanimous if there are no fewer than 11 jurors and 10 of them agree on the verdict or if there are 10 jurors and 9 of them agree on the verdict. The jury in a criminal case must be given at least two hours in which to try to reach a unanimous verdict; if after this time they reach a majority verdict, and this verdict is guilty, the foreman of the jury must state in open court the number of jurors who respectively agreed to and dissented from the verdict. The procedure for taking majority verdicts is now set out in the Consolidated Criminal Practice Direction. |