Malum in se
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From malum, the neuter of malus ("bad") + in ("in") + se, form of sui ("oneself", "itself").
Noun
malum in se ( mala in se)
- Wrong in itself.
- The Latin phrase used in law to refer to crimes that are illegal from the nature of crime, that is, inherently evil without any fact of its being noticed or punished, as opposed to malum prohibitum. Used to develop common law crimes.
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