Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.

not guilty

1. Criminal law. A defendant's plea denying the crime charged. 2. A jury verdict acquitting the defendant because the prosecution failed to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

not guilty by reason of insanity

1. A notguilty verdict, based on mental illness, that usu. does not release the defendant but instead results in commitment to a mental institution. 2. A criminal defendant's plea of not guilty that is based on the insanity defense. See INSANITY DEFENSE. - Also termed not guilty on the ground of insanity. - Abbr. NGRI. See INSANITY DEFENSE. 3. Common-law pleading. A defendant's plea denying both an act of trespass alleged in a plaintiff's declaration and the plaintiff's right to possess the property at issue.

not guilty by statute

Hist. Under certain acts of Parliament, the pleading form for a defendant's general denial in a civil action. ( This pleading form allowed a public officer to indicate action under a statute. The officer had to write the words "by statute" in the margin along with the year, chapter, and section of the applicable statute, and the defendant could not file any other defense without leave of court. The right to plead "not guilty by statute" was essentially removed by the Public Authorities Protection Act of 1893. 4. A general denial in an ejectment action. "The general issue in ejectment is not guilty. This plea operates as follows: (1) As a denial of the unlawfulness of the withholding; i.e., of the plaintiff's title and right of possession. (2) All defenses in excuse or discharge, including the statute of limitations, are available under the general issue in ejectment." Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading § 188, at 333 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).