"There is a verdict allowed by the Scotch law, which (so far as I know) is not permitted by the laws of any other civilized country on the face of the earth.

When the jury are in doubt whether to condemn or acquit the prisoner brought before them, they are permitted, in Scotland, to express that doubt by a form of compromise.

If there is not evidence enough, on the one hand, to justify them in finding a prisoner guilty, and not evidence enough, on the other hand, to thoroughly convince them that a prisoner is innocent, they extricate themselves from the difficulty by finding a verdict of Not Proven." "Was that the Verdict when Eustace was tried ?" I asked.
"Yes." "The jury were not quite satisfied that my husband was guilty?
and not quite satisfied that my husband was innocent?
Is that what the Scotch Verdict means ?" "That is what the Scotch Verdict means.

For three years that doubt about him in the minds of the jury who tried him has stood on public record." Oh, my poor darling! my innocent martyr! I understood it at last.

The false name in which he had married me; the terrible words he had spoken when he had warned me to respect his secret; the still more terrible doubt that he felt of me at that moment--it was all intelligible to my sympathies, it was all clear to my understanding, now.