delict
Americannoun
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Law. a misdemeanor; offense.
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Roman and Civil Law. a civil wrong permitting compensation.
noun
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law Scots law a wrongful act for which the person injured has the right to a civil remedy See also tort
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Roman law a civil wrong redressable by compensation or punitive damages
Etymology
Origin of delict
1515–25; < Latin dēlictum a fault, noun use of neuter of dēlictus (past participle of dēlinquere to do wrong; delinquency ), equivalent to dēlic- fail + -tus past participle suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Because it was difficult to prove that he had committed a delict, we began to pressure him. He got a canon lawyer. We wanted him to go voluntarily, but we threatened him with a canonical trial.”
From The New Yorker
The magistrates and officers of seaport towns were in general so deeply implicated in the trade themselves, that smuggling had a fairer chance than the law, in any case that came before them, and never was a more hopeless enterprise undertaken, in ordinary circumstances, than that of convicting a smuggler, unless captured in flagrant delict.
From Project Gutenberg
These do carrie from the king so great authoritie in their commissions giuen them, that without returning to the court, if they finde any delict culpable, they may apprehend the iudges and punish them, suspend, and reprieue, and do any thing touching their commission at their owne pleasure, so that it be not to take away the life of any man.
From Project Gutenberg
In cases of delict or quasi-delict, the measure of reparation is a fair and reasonable compensation for the advantage which the sufferer would, but for the wrong, have enjoyed and has lost as a natural and proximate result of the wrong, coupled with a solatium for wounded feelings.
From Project Gutenberg
Delict, de-likt′, n. a transgression, a misdemeanour.
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
