Criminal Law, Intentional Torts, and Negligence

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering criminal law, degrees of fault, business crimes, constitutional criminal procedure, intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability.

Crime

Any act or omission forbidden by public law.

Actus Reus

A wrongful or overt act that is an essential element of a crime.

Mens Rea

Criminal intent or mental fault required for criminal liability.

Felony

A serious crime, usually resulting in incarceration of more than one year and confinement in a State or Federal Penitentiary.

Misdemeanor

A less serious crime, usually resulting in incarceration of less than one year and confinement in a local jail.

Vicarious Liability

Liability imposed upon one person for the acts of another, such as when employers are held criminally liable for the acts of employees.

Subjective Fault

A degree of mental fault requiring purposeful, knowing, or reckless conduct, seen in crimes such as larceny and embezzlement.

Objective Fault

A degree of mental fault requiring negligent or careless conduct, seen in crimes such as careless driving or issuing a bad check in some states.

Liability Without Fault

A category of criminal liability requiring no mental fault or intent, such as the sale of alcohol to minors or the sale of adulterated food.

White-Collar Crime

A nonviolent crime involving deceit, corruption, or breach of trust.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

A federal law that established new offenses, increased criminal penalties, added corporate financial disclosure requirements, and imposed fines or imprisonment of up to 20 years for altering, destroying, or falsifying documents to impede an investigation.

Computer Crime (Cybercrime)

The use of a computer to commit a crime, or a crime targeted at a computer.

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

A federal law intended to stop organized crime from infiltrating legitimate businesses.

Larceny

The trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to deprive the victim permanently of the property.

Embezzlement

The taking of another's property by a person who was in lawful possession of that property.

False Pretenses

Obtaining title to the property of another by means of a representation known to be materially false, made with the intent to defraud.

Robbery

Committing larceny with the use or threat of force.

Burglary

Under most modern statutes, an entry into a building with the intent to commit a felony.

Bribery

Offering money or property to a public official to influence the official's decision.

Forgery

The intentional falsification of a document to defraud.

Bad Checks

Knowingly issuing a check without sufficient funds to cover it.

Duress

Coercion by threat of serious bodily harm, serving as a defense to criminal conduct other than murder.

Mistake of Fact

An honest and reasonable belief that conduct is not criminal.

Entrapment

Inducement by a law enforcement official to commit a crime.

Fruits of the Poisonous Tree

A legal rule under which evidence that is illegally seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment, as well as all secondary evidence gathered as a result, is excluded from use at trial.

Fourth Amendment

A constitutional amendment that protects individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.

Fifth Amendment

A constitutional amendment protecting individuals against self-incrimination, double jeopardy, and prosecution for capital crimes without grand jury indictment, while guaranteeing due process.

Sixth Amendment

A constitutional amendment providing the accused with rights to a speedy and public trial by jury, notice of accusations, witness confrontation, compulsory process, and competent counsel.

Eighth Amendment

A constitutional amendment that protects persons from excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

Tort

A civil wrong or injury for which the injured party seeks relief, compensation, or damages.

Intent (Tort Law)

A state of mind where the tortfeasor desires to cause the consequences of her actions, or believes that the consequences are substantially certain to result from her act.

Battery

The intentional infliction of harmful or offensive bodily contact.

Assault

The intentional infliction of apprehension of immediate bodily harm or offensive contact.

False Imprisonment

The intentional confining of a person against her will.

Infliction of Emotional Distress

Extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causing severe emotional distress.

Defamation

A false communication to a third party that injures a person's reputation and good name by disgracing him and diminishing the respect in which he is held.

Libel

Defamation communicated through written or electronically transmitted form.

Slander

Defamation communicated through spoken words.

Appropriation

An invasion of privacy tort involving the unauthorized use of a person's identity.

Intrusion

An invasion of privacy tort consisting of unreasonable and offensive interference with the seclusion of another.

Public Disclosure of Private Facts

An invasion of privacy tort characterized by offensive publicity given to private information about an individual.

False Light

An invasion of privacy tort involving offensive and false publicity placed upon another person.

Real Property

Land and anything attached to it.

Trespass to Real Property

The act of wrongfully entering onto the land of another.

Nuisance

A nontrespassory interference with another person's use and enjoyment of land.

Personal Property

Any property other than land.

Trespass to Personal Property

An intentional taking or use of another's personal property.

Conversion

The intentional exercise of control over another person's personal property.

Interference with Contractual Relations

A business tort where an actor intentionally causes one of the parties to an existing contract not to perform.

Disparagement

The publication of false statements concerning another's property or products.

Fraudulent Misrepresentation

A false statement made with knowledge of its falsity that is intended to induce another party to act.

Reasonable Person Standard

The degree of care that a reasonable person would exercise in a given situation, which establishes the baseline for identifying a breach of duty in negligence.

Duty to Trespassers

The legal duty of a land possessor to not injure trespassers intentionally.

Duty to Licensees

The legal duty of a land possessor to warn privileged visitors of known dangerous conditions that they are unlikely to discover on their own.

Duty to Invitees

The legal duty of a land possessor to exercise reasonable care to protect business visitors against dangerous conditions the possessor should know of but invitees are unlikely to discover.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

A Latin phrase meaning 'the thing speaks for itself,' which permits a jury to infer negligent conduct and causation from the mere occurrence of certain types of events.

Factual Cause

An element of negligence established when the defendant's conduct was the actual cause of, or a substantial factor in causing, the injury, commonly assessed using the 'But For' test.

Foreseeability (Scope of Liability)

The limitation on liability stating that a defendant is not liable if they could not reasonably have anticipated injuring the plaintiff or the class of persons to which the plaintiff belongs.

Superseding Cause

An intervening act occurring after the defendant's negligent act that relieves the defendant of legal liability.

Contributory Negligence

A common law defense where the plaintiff's failure to exercise reasonable care for their own protection completely prevents them from recovering any damages.

Comparative Negligence

A defense in negligence where damages are divided and apportioned between the parties in proportion to their respective degrees of fault.

Assumption of the Risk

A defense based on a plaintiff's express or implied consent to encounter a known danger.

Strict Liability

A standard of liability that imposes absolute legal responsibility for damages without requiring a showing of fault, intent, or negligence.

Abnormally Dangerous Activities

Activities that give rise to strict liability because they involve a high degree of serious harm and are not matters of common usage.