What is CONVICTION? Definition of CONVICTION in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms.
In a general sense, the result of a criminal trial which ends in a judgment or sentence that the prisoner is, guilty as charged.
The act of convicting a person, or state of being convicted, of a criminal offense. Hershey v. People, 91 Colo. 113, 12 P.2d 345, 347. Finding a person guilty by verdict of a jury. 1 Bish.Crim.Law, § 223; Emmertson v. State Tax Commission of Utah, 93 Utah 219, 72 P.2d 467, 470, 113 A.L.R. 1174.
A record of the summary proceedings upon any penal statute before one or more justices of the peace or other persons duly authorized, in a case where the offender has been convicted and sentenced. , Holthouse. In respect of pardoning power, verdict of guilty. State v. Garrett, 135 Tenn. 617, 188 S.W. 58, L.R.A.1917B, 567. Contra, Ex parte White, 28 Okl.Cr, 180, 230 P. 522.
In ordinary phrase, the meaning of the word "conviction" is the finding by the jury of a verdict that the accused is guilty. But, in legal parlance, it often denotes the final judgment of the court. Blaufus v. People, 69 N.Y.109, 25 Am.Rep. 148; Marino v. Hibbard, 243 Mass. 90, 137 N.E. 369; Commonwealth v. Minnich, 250 Pa. 363, 95 A. 565, 567, L.R.A.1916B, 950.
The ordinary legal meaning of "conviction," when used to designate a particular stage of a criminal prosecution triable by a jury, is the confession of the accused in open court or the verdict returned against him by the jury, which ascertains and publishes the fact of his guilt; while "judgment" or "sentence" is the appropriate word to denote the action of the court before which the trial is had, declaring the consequences to the convict of the fact thus ascertained. A pardon granted after verdict of guilty, but before sentence, and pending a hearing upon exceptions taken by the accused during the trial, is granted after conviction, within the meaning of a constitutional restriction upon granting pardon before conviction. When, indeed, the word "conviction" is used to describe the effect of the guilt of the accused as judicially proved in one case, when pleaded or given in evidence in another, it is sometimes used in a more comprehensive sense, including the judgment of the court upon the verdict or confession of guilt; as, for instance, in speaking of the plea of autrefois convict, or of the effect of guilt, judicially ascertained, as a disqualification of the convict. Com. v. Lockwood, 109 Mass. 323, 12 Am.Rep. 699; In re Anderson, 34 Cal.App.2d 48, 92 P.2d 1020, 1022. Attorney General ex rel. O'Hara v. Montgomery, 275 Mich. 504, 267 N.W. 550, 554.
Former Conviction. A previous trial and conviction of the same offense as that now charged; pleadable in bar of the prosecution. State v. Ellsworth, 131 N.C: 773, 42 S.E. 699, 92 Am.St.Rep. 790; Williams v. State, 13 Te g. App. 285, 46 Am. Rep. 237.
Summary Conviction. The conviction of a person, (usually for a minor misdemeanor,) as the result of his trial before a magistrate or court,without the intervention of a jury, which is authorized by statute in England and in many of the states. In these proceedings there is no intervention of a jury, but the party accused is acquitted or condemned by the suffrage of such person only as the statute has appointed to be his judge. A conviction reached on such a magistrate's trial is called a "summary conviction." Brown; Blair v. Com., 25 Grat. (Va.) 853.
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That's the definition of CONVICTION in Black's Law Dictionary - Legal dictionary - Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.