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Apr 11, 2013
This week's theme
Terms from law

This week's words
lex loci
hereditament
suborn
mens rea
attorn

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

mens rea

PRONUNCIATION:
(MENZ REE-uh)

MEANING:
noun: Criminal intent.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin mens rea (guilty mind). Earliest documented use: 1861.

USAGE:
"She appealed against her conviction on the basis that she did not have the required mens rea, in that she was not aware she was carrying drugs."
Minimum 10-Year Drug Term Reduced for 'Naive' Offender; Irish Times (Dublin); Jan 16, 2012.

See more usage examples of mens rea in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs. -Joseph Addison, essayist and poet (1672-1719)

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