Verdict of "dīcere", to say). In a criminal case, the verdict, which may be either "not guilty" or "guilty"—except in Scotland where the verdict of "not proven" is also available—is handed down by the jury. Different counts in the same case may have different verdicts. A verdict of guilty in a criminal case is generally followed by a judgment of conviction rendered by judge, which in turn be followed by sentencing. In U.S. legal nomenclature, the verdict is the finding of the jury on the questions of fact submitted to it. Once the court (the judge) receives the verdict, the judge
Marriage in England and Wales to Scotland. Legal common-law marriage was, for practical purposes, abolished under the 1753 Marriage Act, also known as Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act. This was aimed at suppressing clandestine marriages by introducing more stringent conditions for validity, and thereafter only marriages conducted by the Church of England, Quakers, or under Jewish law, were recognised in England and Wales. This effectively ended earlier practices. Any other form of marriage was abolished; children born into unions which were not valid under the Act would not automatically inherit the property or titles of their parents. For historical reasons, the Act did not apply in