A partial verdict occurs when a judge permits a jury to return verdicts on fewer than all of the counts it has to decide, though it has not yet determined the remainder (and, it is possible, may never so determine). The verdicts the jury has reached may or may not be announced immediately. The term may also be used in

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what ki ...

. In a criminal case, it occurs when the judge or

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartiality, impartial verdict (a Question of fact, finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty o ...

finds the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

guilty or not guilty on some, but not all, of the charges against them.

References

Legal terminology Civil procedure Criminal procedure {{law-stub