CALCULUS Minerva, among the ancient lawyers, denoted the decision of a cause, wherein the judges were equally divided. The expression is taken from the history of Orestes, represented by Æschylus and Euripides; at whose trial, before the Areopagites, for the murder of his mother, the votes being equally divided for and against him, Minerva interposed, and gave the casting vote or calculus in his behalf.
M. Cramer, professor at Marburg, has a discourse expressed, De Calculo Minervæ; wherein he maintains, that all the effect an entire equality of voices can have, is to leave the cause in statu quo.