Perpetrator

Generally, this term denotes the person who actually commits a crime or delict or by whose immediate agency it occurs. But, where a servant of a railroad company is killed through the negligence of a co-employe, the company itself may be regarded as the "perpetrator" of the act, within the meaning of a statute giving an action against the perpetrator.

Philo v. Illinois Cent R. Co., 33 Iowa, 47.