CHANCE

In criminal law. An accident; an unexpected, unforeseen, or unintended consequence of an act; a fortuitous event The opposite of intention, design, or contrivance. There is a wide difference between chance and accident. The one is the intervention of some unlooked for circumstance to prevent an expected result; the other is the uncalculated effect of mere luck. The shot discharged at random strikes its object by chance; that which is turned aside from its well directed aim by some unforeseen circumstance misses its mark by accident. Pure chance consists in the entire absence of all the means of calculating results ; accident, in the unusual prevention of an effect naturally resulting from the means employed. Harless v. U. S., Morris (Iowa) 173. Chance verdict. One determined by hazard or lot, and not by the deliberate understanding and agreement of the jury. Goodman v. Cody, 1 Wash. T. 335, 34 Am. Rep. 808; Dixon v. Pluns, 98 Cal. 384, 33 Pac. 268, 20 L. R. A. 698. 35 Am. St. Rep. 180; Improvement Co. v. Adams, 1 Colo. App. 250, 28 Pac. 662.