Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
corpus delicti
[Latin "body of the crime"] 1. The fact of a transgression; ACTUS REUS."[T]he definition of 'corpus delicti' often becomes important. (a) Essentially it signifies merely the fact of the specific loss or injury sustained, e.g., death of a victim or burning of a house. (b) To this is added also, by most courts, the criminal agency of some person (i.e., not mere accident). (c) A few courts also include evidence of the accused's identity with the deed; but this is absurd, for it virtually signifies making 'corpus delicti' synonymous with the whole charge. - Many courts treat this rule with a pedantic and unpractical strictness." John H. Wigmore, A Students' Textbook of the Law of Evidence 310 (1935).
corpus delicti rule
Criminal law. The doctrine that prohibits a prosecutor from proving the corpus delicti based solely on a defendant's extrajudicial statements. ( The prosecution must establish the corpus delicti with corroborating evidence to secure a conviction.