Ultimate Fact
Encyclopedia
The ultimate fact is, in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, the conclusion (or conclusions) of factual evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...

 made by a jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

 after deliberation
Deliberation
Deliberation is a process of thoughtfully weighing options, usually prior to voting. In legal settings a jury famously uses deliberation because it is given specific options, like guilty or not guilty, along with information and arguments to evaluate. Deliberation emphasizes the use of logic and...

.

One common definition is "in a trial, a conclusion of fact which is logically deduced from evidence...." It is "the conclusion arrived during a trial based on the evidentiary facts."

An example would be the conclusion that somebody was liable for negligence
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...

 because he sped, drove over a double line, skidded and lost control of his car. The jury can make out the ultimate fact when a man enters his apartment, a woman screams from inside, and the police find the man inside the apartment with his gun in his hand standing over his dead wife, that he murdered her.

A classic case, under New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 law, is People v. Murphy. In that case, the defendant was rebuffed by his drug dealer's girlfriend and her sister, he invaded their apartment, sought and found a hammer, and hit each of three female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...

s (the pregnant girlfriend, her sister and her niece) with the claw end of the hammer, several times, on their heads. The ultimate fact decided by the jury was that he intended to kill all three of them. (He only succeeding in killing the girlfriend. The boyfriend returned from an overnight incarceration, rescuing the survivors. Their baby was delivered by caesarean section
Caesarean section
A Caesarean section, is a surgical procedure in which one or more incisions are made through a mother's abdomen and uterus to deliver one or more babies, or, rarely, to remove a dead fetus...

, the sister and her daughter also survived.) For further discussion of this case, see the references noted.

See also

  • Evidence
    Evidence
    Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...

  • Jury instructions
    Jury instructions
    Jury instructions are the set of legal rules that jurors should follow when the jury is deciding a civil or criminal case. Jury instructions are given to the jury by the jury instructor, who usually reads them aloud to the jury...

  • Trier of fact
    Trier of fact
    A trier of fact is a person, or group of persons, who determines facts in a legal proceeding, usually a trial. To determine a fact is to decide, from the evidence, whether something existed or some event occurred.-Juries:...

  • Ultimate issue (law)
    Ultimate issue (law)
    An ultimate issue in criminal law is a legal issue at stake in the prosecution of a crime for which an expert witness is providing testimony.-Example:...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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