Word.ws English Dictionary

Durham rule

Durham rule noun: a rule in a criminal case by which a jury may determine a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity because a criminal act was the product of a mental disease.

Noun

Durham rule (plural Durham rules)

  1. A rule in a criminal case by which a jury may determine a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity because a criminal act was the product of a mental disease.

Forms of Durham rule

pluralDurham rules

Origin of Durham rule

After the case of Durham v. United States (1954).

Questions about Durham rule

What does Durham rule mean?
Durham rule means a rule in a criminal case by which a jury may determine a defendant not guilty by reason of insanity because a criminal act was the product of a mental disease.
What part of speech is Durham rule?
Durham rule is a noun.
What is the plural of Durham rule?
The plural of Durham rule is Durham rules.

Words near Durham rule in the dictionary

  1. Durham boat
  2. Durham boats
  3. Durham County
  4. Durham Lead
  5. Durham Ox
  6. Durham rule
  7. Durham rules
  8. Durhamism
  9. Durhamite
  10. Durhamites
  11. Durhams

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Durham rule (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Durham rule.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/durham_rule. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.