Culprit

A word made up of two distinct words or abbreviations of words, {cul. abbrev. of culpahilis, guilty, and prit or prest, ready, i. e. to prove it,) used anciently on the arraignment of a prisoner at the bar, and employed in the course of time to denote a prisoner so arraigned. It has not now any technical meaning, but is popularly used to denote any crimmal, especially one found or confessed to be guilty. Anciently, when a prisoner had pleaded "not guilty," (L. Lat. non culpahilis; L." Fr. nient culpable, or, as it was abbreviated on the minutes, " non or nient cul.") the clerk of the assize, or clerk of the arraigns, on behalf of the crown, replied that the prisoner was guilty, {cul.) and that he was ready ^ (prit) to prove him so.

4 Bl. Com. 339.

In the course of time, it became the practice for the officer of the court to read aloud these words, without regard to their real meaning, (which was beginning to be forgotten, owing to the disuse of Law French,) and to apply them as an appellation of the prisoner himself; for when a prisoner pleaded not guilty, the officer used to say, " cul. prit, — ^how wilt thou* be tried?" to which the prisoner usually replied " by God and the country," meaning by a jury.

4 Steph. Com. 408, note.

Mr. Christian gives a different explanation, and supposes prit to have been a corruption of pnt, written for ponit, as a minute that issue was joined, or ponit se super patriam, (he puts himself upon the country,) or pnt se might be converted into prist or prest, as it was sometimes written.

4 Chitt. Bl. Com. 340, note.

As a confirmation of this conjecture, it is said that the clerk of the arraigns in the English courts, at this day, immediately after the arraignment, writes upon the indictment, over the name of the prisoner, puts. Id. ibid,