malice aforethought

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Related to malice aforethought: Excusable homicide

malice aforethought

n. Law

The premeditated and deliberate commission of a criminal act with knowledge of its harmfulness or reckless indifference to its harmfulness and without justification or excuse.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

malice aforethought

1. (Law) the predetermination to do an unlawful act, esp to kill or seriously injure

2. (Law) the intent with which an unlawful killing is effected, which must be proved for the crime to constitute murder. See also murder, manslaughter

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mal′ice afore′thought

a predetermination to commit an unlawful act without just cause or provocation. Also called mal′ice prepense′.

[1660–70]

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Noun

malice aforethought - (law) criminal intent; the thoughts and intentions behind a wrongful act (including knowledge that the act is illegal); often at issue in murder trials

mens rea

planning, preparation, provision - the cognitive process of thinking about what you will do in the event of something happening; "his planning for retirement was hindered by several uncertainties"

premeditation - (law) thought and intention to commit a crime well in advance of the crime; goes to show criminal intent

law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order"

Translations

malice aforethought

[ˌmælɪsəˈfɔːˌθɔːt] n (Law) → premeditazione f

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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This sailing with a "dry " boat was malice aforethought on my part.

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Instead, the only evidence in the record is that defendant deliberately and intentionally shot her husband and that she either shot him with malice aforethought or in self-defense.

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They were left distraught by the verdict of manslaughter - "an unlawful killing that doesn't involve malice aforethought".

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I lay awake plotting how to destroy my eBook reader in the morning with malice aforethought, which was just as well, because half an hour later my wife had gone to sleep still sitting up and I had to wake her so she could remove her spectacles and lay back properly in the land of nod.

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She said element of malice aforethought on part of deceased was proved.

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Whelan's legal training eventually seemed to kick in--concepts like "malice aforethought" and "reckless disregard for the truth." Naming the alternate suspect, he said, did not mean he was implying that the classmate "or anyone else committed the sexual assault that Ford alleges." But what else could it mean?

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Paolo wrote in his complaint that Trillanes' accusations against them 'are pregnant with malice aforethought and evil intent.'