The Latin term corpus delicti refers to the principle that there must be some proof that a crime has been committed before a person can be convicted of having committed that crime. In Western law, the term has also been widely used to refer to the object upon which the crime was committed, meaning a body, in the case of a murder, which itself proves the crime was committed. To explore this concept, consider the following corpus delicti definition.
What is Corpus Delicti
The term corpus delicti, which literally means “body of crime,” is best understood in realizing a person cannot be put on trial for a crime, unless it is first proven that the crime happened to begin with. In other words, the prosecution would need to demonstrate that something bad happened as a result of a law having been violated, and that someone – the defendant – was the one who violated it. There are two elements of corpus delicti in any offense:
- A certain consequence, or injury, has occurred
- The consequence, or injury, is a result of a person’s intentional, unlawful act