Verdict Verdict Robert Wilson Simmons Category="Legal terms"In Law, a verdict is the Judgment of a case before a court of law. The term literally means "to speak the truth" and is derived from Middle English verdit, from Anglo-Norman: a compound of ver ("true," from the Latin vērus) and dit ("speech," from the Latin dictum, the neuter form of dīcere, to tell or to speak).

In a criminal case, the verdict is either an Acquittal ("not guilty") or a Conviction ("guilty"), except in Scotland which also has the verdict of "Not Proven" available to a Jury. Different counts may have different verdicts, and a conviction will be followed by sentencing.

In a civil case, the verdict may be a judgment such as ordering one party to pay Money to the other.

In US legal nomenclature, the verdict is the decision of the jury on the questions submitted to it. Once the court receives the verdict, it enters judgment on it; the judgment of the court is the final order in the case.