Definition of DOUBT in Black's Law Dictionary 4th Edition – Legal dictionary – Glossary of legal terms.
Definition of DOUBT
v. To question or hold questionable. Claussen v. State, 21 Wyo. 505, 133 P. 1055, 1056.
n. Uncertainty of mind; the absence of a settled opinion or conviction; the attitude of mind towards the acceptance of or belief in a proposition, theory, or statement, in which the judgment is not at rest but inclines alternately to either side. Rowe v. Baber, 93 Ala. 422, 8 So. 865; Smith v. Railway Co., 143 Mo. 33, 44 S.W. 718; West Jersey Traction Co. v. Camden Horse R. Co., 52 N.J.Eq. 452, 29 A. 333. An equipoise of the mind arising from an equality of contrary reasons. Ayliffe, Pand. 121.
Reasonable Doubt
This is a term often used, probably pretty well understood, but not easily defined. It does not mean a mere possible doubt, because everything relating to human affairs, and depending on moral evidence, is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. It is that state of the case which, after the entire comparison and consideration of all the evidence, leaves the minds of jurors in that condition that they cannot say they feel an abiding conviction to a moral certainty of the truth of the charge. If upon proof there is reasonable doubt remaining, the accused is entitled to the benefit of it by an acquittal; for it is not sufficient to establish a probability, though a strong one, arising from the doctrine of chances, that the fact charged is more likely to be true than the contrary, but the evidence must establish the truth of the fact to a reasonable and moral certainty,—a certainty that convinces and directs the understanding and satisfies the reason and judgment of those who are bound to act conscientiously upon it. This is proof beyond reasonable doubt; because if the law, which mostly depends upon considerations of a moral nature, should go further than this, and require absolute certainty, it would exclude circumstantial evidence altogether. Egan v. U. S., 52 App.D.C. 384, 287 F. 958.
Proof "beyond a reasonable doubt" is not beyond all possible or imaginary doubt, but such proof as precludes every reasonable hypothesis except that which it tends to support. It is proof "to a moral certainty,"—such proof as satisfies the judgment and consciences of the jury, as reasonable men, and applying their reason to the evidence before them, that the crime charged has been committed by the defendant, and so satisfies them as to leave no other reasonable conclusion possible. State v. Koski, 100 W.Va. 98, 130 S.E. 100, 101.
The difficulty of a satisfactory definition is discussed in 57 Am.L.Reg. 419, where C. J. Shaw's definition is criticized and that in Corn. v. Costley, 118 Mass. 1, supra, is suggested as better. And in Hopt v. Utah, 120 U.S. 430, 7 S.Ct. 614, 30 L.Ed. 708, it was approved as contrasted with C. J. Shaw's definition.
A "reasonable doubt" is such a doubt as would cause a reasonable and prudent man in the graver and more important affairs of life to pause and hesitate to act upon the truth of the matter charged. But a reasonable doubt is not a mere possibility of innocence, nor a caprice, shadow, or speculation as to innocence not arising out of the evidence or the want of it. State v. Perkins, 21 N.M. 135, 153 P. 258, 259.
A "reasonable doubt" is such a doubt as an upright man might entertain in an honest investigation after truth. Peterson v. State, 47 Ga. 524(5); Lochamy v. State, 152 Ga. 235, 109 S.E. 497. A "reasonable doubt" is one for which a reason can be given. State v. Jefferson, 43 La.Ann. 995, 10 So. 199. Contra: Abbott v. Territory, 20 Okl. 119, 94 P. 179, 16 L. R. A. ,N. S. , 260, 129 Am. St. Rep. 818.
The term needs no definition. People v. Rogers, 324 Ill. 224, 154 N.E. 909, 913.
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That's the definition of DOUBT in Black's Law Dictionary 4th Edition – Legal dictionary – Glossary of legal terms. Courtesy of Cekhukum.com.
