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Glite Dictionary
quotient verdict

quotient verdict

9.9
A jury decision that makes the verdict by averaging how much money each juror says should be paid
  • noun
  • /ˈkwoʊʃənt ˈvɜrdɪkt/
  • Jargon
translation icon : veredicto de cociente
  • A quotient verdict is not permissible because it undermines individual juror responsibility.

Examples

  • The judge declared a mistrial after discovering the jury had reached a quotient verdict.

  • A quotient verdict undermines the individual accountability of jurors by averaging their opinions.

  • Attorneys sometimes question juries to ensure their decision was not a quotient verdict.

  • The jury reached a quotient verdict after much deliberation.

  • Is a quotient verdict legally acceptable in this case?

  • In legal proceedings, a quotient verdict is deemed inappropriate as it disregards personal juror assessments.

  • The court ruled that the jury's quotient verdict was invalid due to improper calculation methods.

Synonyms

compromise verdict
vsquotient verdict
  • Jargon
1 9.6

A jury decision made when jurors give up their true view to agree about the evidence

uses averaging of jurors' stated damage numbers to produce one result

Surface Forms

quotient verdict singular
quotient verdicts plural

Morphology

quotient + verdict

The constituent words 'quotient' (result of division) and 'verdict' (jury decision) directly suggest a decision produced by some arithmetic division, so a learner who knows both words can infer that the verdict involves calculating a quotient. However, the exact procedural details described and its status as an improper legal practice are specialized and not fully predictable from the parts alone, so the meaning is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The noun quotient verdict comes from a simple math picture: jurors each name a number for damages, they add the numbers and divide by the number of jurors to get a quotient, which becomes the verdict. That's why the term means a decision made by averaging jurors' numbers, and why it is not allowed - it ignores each juror's true opinion.