Culprit - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition culprit

Definition :

Culprit. The prisoner at the Bar awaiting his trial after a plea of not guilty. 'Its first recorded use is in the trial of the Earl of Pembroke for murder in 1678. Its original force was formerly to join issue with the defendant's plea of Not guilty and to demand trial and judgment.'-Oxf. Dict., art. 'Culprit,' where see discussion of the disputed derivations of the word. It is thus derived by Donaldson. The clerk asks the prisoner, 'Are you guilty or not guilty ?' Prisoner, 'Not guilty.' Clerk, 'Qu'il paroit [may it prove so]; how will you be tried ?' Prisoner, 'By God and my country.' These words, being hurried over, came to sound, 'Culprit, how will you be tried ?' Blackstone's derivation is entirely different; see 4 Bl. Com. 339.