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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Law The material evidence in a homicide, such as the discovered corpse of a murder victim, showing that a crime has been committed.
  2. n. A corpse.

Wiktionary

  1. n. law The body of the victim
  2. n. law The evidence that a crime has occurred.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Law) the substantial and fundamental fact of the comission of a crime; the proofs essential to establish a crime.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. the body of evidence that constitute the offence; the objective proof that a crime has been committed (sometimes mistakenly thought to refer to the body of a homicide victim)

Etymologies

  1. From New Latin, from Latin corpus ("body") dēlictī ("of crime"). (Wiktionary)
  2. New Latin corpus dēlictī : Latin corpus, body + Latin dēlictī, genitive of dēlictum, crime. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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  1. evidence

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Lists

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  • qroqqa Delictum "offence, transgression" is from the past participle of delinquere "transgress", so is related to 'delinquent'. And, if it comes to that, to 'leave' and 'eleven'. Mar 6, 2009

  • rolig Latin: "the body of offense". In law, this refers to the facts and circumstances constituting a breach of the law. In popular usage, however, this can mean the concrete evidence, such as a corpse. Mar 6, 2009

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‘corpus delicti’ has been looked up 1532 times, loved by 1 person, added to 9 lists, commented on 2 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.