Open Verdict / Undetermined
Definition
The UK Coroner's conclusion (open verdict, or narrative conclusion) where evidence is insufficient for a more specific conclusion. Functionally equivalent to the NAME 'undetermined' category. The standard of proof for all UK coroner short-form conclusions was changed to the civil standard (balance of probabilities) by R (Maughan) v. HM Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire (2020).
- Jurisdiction
- United Kingdom coroner system
- Equivalent to
- NAME "undetermined" category
- Standard of proof
- Balance of probabilities, since Maughan (2020)
- Key case
- R (Maughan) v HM Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire
Common questions
When does a coroner return an open verdict instead of a specific one?+
It is used when the available evidence does not permit a more definite conclusion about how death occurred, such as when suicide or unlawful killing cannot be established to the required standard.
What changed after the Maughan ruling?+
Before Maughan, conclusions like suicide or unlawful killing required the criminal standard of proof, beyond reasonable doubt; the ruling lowered this to the civil standard, balance of probabilities, making such conclusions easier to reach than before.
Related terms
- BNSS § 194
- Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 (replacing CrPC § 174). Requires a police inquest for deaths that are sudden,...
- ICD-10 Chapter XX (V01-Y98)
- The External Causes of Morbidity and Mortality chapter of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. These codes capture the circumstances and...
- Mechanism of Death
- The physiological derangement through which the cause of death produced the dying process. Examples include exsanguination, asphyxia, sepsis, and cardiac arrhythmia. Multiple...
- NAME Classification
- The National Association of Medical Examiners five-class manner-of-death taxonomy: Natural, Accidental, Suicide, Homicide, and Undetermined. The internationally dominant framework for manner-of-death certification,...
- Underlying Cause of Death
- The disease or injury that initiated the chain of events that led to death, as defined in the WHO ICD coding conventions....