Latin Legal Terms

Definitions and South-African-law usage notes for the Latin terms judges, lawyers, and textbooks routinely cite. Free, indexed, and updated as new terms are curated from our source library.

mens rea
guilty mind
Mens rea refers to the fault element of an offence: the accused’s state of mind when committing the prohibited act. In South African criminal law, liability generally requires both unlawful conduct and fault, usually in
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