culprit

views updated May 11 2018

culprit in the formula ‘Culprit, how will you be tried?’, formerly said by the Clerk of the Crown to a prisoner who pleaded Not Guilty; the accused XVII; (by assoc. with L. culpa guilt) offender XVIII. According to legal tradition, compounded of cul, short for AN. culpable guilty (cf. prec.), and pri(s)t ( = OF. prest, F. prêt) ready; it is supposed that, when the prisoner had pleaded Not Guilty, the Clerk replied with Culpable: prest daverrer notre bille, i.e. ‘Guilty: ready to aver our indictment’, and that this was noted in the form cul. prist.

Culprit

views updated May 23 2018

CULPRIT

An individual who has been formally charged with a criminal offense but who has not yet been tried and convicted.

Culprit is a colloquial rather than a legal term and is commonly applied to someone who is guilty of a minor degree of moral reprehensibility. According to sir william blackstone, the term is most likely a derivative of the archaic mode of arraignment during which upon a prisoner's plea of not guilty the cleric would say culpabilis prit, meaning "he is guilty and the crown is ready." The more common derivation is from culpa, meaning "fault or blame."

culprit

views updated May 18 2018

cul·prit / ˈkəlprət; ˈkəlˌprit/ • n. a person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed. ∎  the cause of a problem or defect.

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