corpus delicti
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.
And there’s this one, a pioneering one in California criminal law: a crime even without a corpse, the body of evidence — the corpus delicti.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2026
So, every time you have some sort of a crime that’s committed, you have to have the corpus delicti, which is a Latin term for the body of the crime.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2019
But in law, corpus delicti means not the body of a victim but the "body of the offense," i.e., evidence that the crime in question has been committed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Furthermore, there seemed to be no corpus delicti: in whodunits, corpus delicti means a corpse.
From Time Magazine Archive
The commonest method is the complete destruction of the corpse—the corpus delicti.
From Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942 by Various
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