Criminal Law Vocabulary

Sanction

Penalty or punishment imposed for violation.

Moral Condemnation

Society's formal disapproval attached to conviction.

Nullum Crimen Sine Lege

"No crime without law."

Nulla Poena Sine Lege

"No punishment without law."

Principle of Legality

The requirement that conduct must be defined as criminal before prosecution.

Common Law

Judge-made law developed through precedent.

Model Penal Code (MPC)

Influential legal code drafted by the American Law Institute.

Due Process

Constitutional guarantee of fairness, including notice and clarity of laws.

Void for Vagueness Doctrine

Invalidating unclear laws that fail to give notice or allow arbitrary enforcement.

Fair Notice

The requirement that individuals must know what conduct is prohibited.

Arbitrary Enforcement

Discretionary and discriminatory application of vague laws.

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

The highest burden of proof in criminal law.

Circumstantial Evidence

Indirect evidence from which guilt may be inferred.

Moral Certainty Instruction

Jury standard describing proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Statutory Interpretation

Judicial clarification of ambiguous laws.

Overbredth

When a statute prohibits constitutionally protected conduct.

Doctrine of Leanity

Ambiguous criminal statutes must be interpreted in favor of the defendant.

Legislative Intent

The purpose lawmakers had in enacting a statute.

Judicial Narrowing

The Court is limiting the scope of vague law to preserve constitutionality.

Larceny

Trespassory taking and carrying away of property of another with intent to steal.

Actus Reus

The physical act of committing a crime.

Mens Rea

The mental state of intent behind a crime

Possession (actual/physical)

Direct control over property

Constructive Possession

Legal control without physical custody

Custody

Temporary control without full possession

Bailment

Delivery of goods to another person for a purpose, with an obligation to return

Bailee

A person or organization that has temporary possession of someone else's personal property.

Asportation

Carrying away requirement in Larceny

Trespassory Taking

Taking without consent or legal justification

Consent

Voluntary agreement by the owner, negating trespass

Larceny by Trick

Obtaining possession through fraud, but not ownership

False Pretenses

Obtaining both titles and possession by fraud

Claim of Right

Defense where the defendant believes they have a lawful right to the property

Continuing Tresspass

The doctrine treats initial wrongful taking as ongoing until the intent to steal is formed.

Animus Furandi

Intent to steal

Conversion

Wrongful exercise of dominion over property.

Carjacking

Statutory crime of forcibly taking a motor vehicle.

Robbery

Larceny from a person by force or intimidation.

Fraudulent Intent

Intent to deceive for unlawful gain.

Title vs. Possession

Ownership rights (title) versus control (possession).

Intangible Property

Non-physical property, like digital assets or funds.

Real vs. Personal Property

Land vs. movable objects.

Of Another

Property must belong to someone other than the taker.

Necessity Defense

Claim that illegal conduct was necessary to avoid greater harm (limited).

Excuse vs. Justification

Excuse forgives the actor, justification deems the conduct socially acceptable.

Claim-of-Right Defense

Belief in legal entitlement to property negates intent.

Self-Help Debt Collection

(Outdated) using force to reclaim property believed to be owed.

Public Policy Considerations

Societal values influencing limits of defenses.

Theft by False Pretense

Committed a fraud against owner, induce the transfer of possession, possession and ownership was transferred based on reliance, and intent to deprive major value/enjoyment property.

Ringing the Changes

Involves a thief creating confusion, often during a transaction with change, to get more money than they are owed.

Entrustment

a person received the property in trust for someone else. When they convert this property for their own use, it breaks that trust.

Embezzlement

taking for one's own use in violation of trust; stealing (of money placed in one's care)

False Pretenses

obtaining property by lying about a past or existing fact

Voluntary Act

Bodily movements that are controlled by the individual's "acting self," rather than just any physical movement.

Automatism

the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.

Bad Samaritan Laws

laws that make it a crime for someone to fail to come to the aid of another who is in danger

Duty to Report Laws

Laws that require counselors to notify the appropriate authorities if a child or vulnerable adult is being abused or neglected, or if someone is at imminent risk of harm.

Gross Deviation

Significant departure from reasonable conduct standards.

Specific Intent

an intention to act and to cause a specific result

General Intent

an intention to act without regard to the results of the act

Transferred Intent

when a defendant intends to harm one individual, but unintentionally harms a second person

Willful Blindness

The act of deliberately choosing to ignore certain facts or information

Strict Liability Offenses

Crimes that have no mens rea requirement; a person who commits the requisite actus reus may be convicted of the offense regardless of intent.

Public Welfare Offense

Regulatory offenses carrying fines that typically do not require criminal intent

Good Faith Belief

Honest belief in the validity of a claim.

Willfull

defendant realized they were violating the law or acted with a wrongful motive.

But For Test

This wouldn't have happened BUT FOR the defendant's conduct 

Sustaintial Factor Test

Two defendants independently of one another commit two separate acts which each alone brings about a prohibited act 

Actual Causeation

A person’s act must be an actual cause of a result before it can be its proximate cause.

Proximate Causeation

The result that occured has a direct relationship to the actions of the defendent

Intervening Cause

“Breaks the causal chain” is sometimes described as a superseding cause

Alternative Casual Theory

Suggests that “proximate cause” should be understood as a matter of the “strength of the causal connection” between the defendant’s conduct and the prohibited

Casual Theory 

Requires that the conduct be a but-for antecedent, and that the result is not too remote or accidental in its occurrence to have a just bearing on liability.

Year and a Day Rule

Dictated that a defendant could not be prosecuted for murder unless the victim died within a year and a day of the act inflicting injury.

First Degree Murder Formula

“Wilful, deliberate, premeditated” must be stated in the conjunctive. All three elements must be satisfied

Provocation

Serves to reduce an intentional killing from murder to manslaughter.

Adequate Provocation

Requires that reason, at the time of the act, be disturbed or obscured by passion to an extent that might render ordinary men, of fair average disposition, liable to act rashly or without due deliberation or reflection, and from passion, rather than judgment.

Extreme Emotional Disturbance

One acted out of a heat of passion, reasonable explanation or excuse, this is subjective and up to a jury to decide.

Diminished Capacity

Involves a mental abnormality that is insufficient in severity to qualify as insanity, which is a full defense.