A judicial act declaring a defendant not guilty of the charged offense. The definition carves a binary outcome (guilty/not guilty) produced by a formal adjudicative process, persisting through institutional record-keeping and the legal doctrine of double jeopardy which prevents re-prosecution on the same charges. It exists as both a written judgment and a social fact: the state acknowledges it cannot prove its case. [formal: acquiesco | substrate: behavior | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.48]
Accepted ontology entry
acquittal
A judicial act declaring a defendant not guilty of the charged offense. The definition carves a binary outcome (guilty/not guilty) produced by a formal adjudicative process, persisting through institutional record-keeping and the legal doc…
Definition
Why it is in scope
Acquittal is a formal legal declaration by a court that a defendant is not guilty of the charges against them. It is a human-made judicial act that terminates criminal proceedings in favor of the accused, built to persist through legal records and precedent.
Names and aliases
- acquittalen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr784r5e002bs126m1vdhxgkDEPENDS_ON →
An acquittal is a legal verdict — remove law and there is no acquittal. The concept needs the legal framework to operate right now.
- cmrcnwuwo011p13vzvcew11qhINSTANCE_OF →
An acquittal IS a specific kind of verdict — the verdict that a defendant is not guilty. Direction specific→general per Law 9. A competent speaker would call an acquittal 'a type of verdict' (specifically, a not-guilty verdict).
- cmr784r5e002bs126m1vdhxgkDERIVED_FROM →
Acquittal as a formal legal verdict conceptually derived from law. Legal systems produced the concept of formal verdicts including conviction and acquittal. Law existed first and produced this specific verdict type.
- cmrelfkq900q5g8vu0ihj0ouwDEPENDS_ON →
Remove evidence and acquittal stops operating: acquittal IS a verdict based on the evaluation of evidence (insufficient evidence, absence of proof). Without the concept of evidence, the verdict of acquittal has no operational meaning and cannot function.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 17, 2026, 8:44 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 7d87e25c25992fb653bc883697a7aa7c2625210e63f8274bb125dfac984a6d52