“When the grand jury have heard the evidence, if they think it a groundless accusation, they used formerly to endorse on the back of the bill, ‘ignoramus;’ or, we know nothing of it; intimating, that, though the facts might possibly be true, that truth did not appear to them: but now they assert in English, more absolutely, ‘not a true bill’; and then the party is discharged without farther answer.” 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 301 (1769).
ignoramus
ignoramus (ig-n[schwa]-ray-m[schwa]s). [Law Latin] Hist. We do not know. • This notation, when written on a bill of indictment, indicated the grand jury’s rejection of the bill. See NOT FOUND; NO BILL. Cf. TRUE BILL.
