Willfully
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 290 U.S. 389 - United States v. Murdock · 1933Most cited · 1,724 citing opinions
The word often denotes an act which is intentional, or knowing, or voluntary, as distinguished from accidental. But, when used in a criminal statute, it generally means an act done with a bad purpose; without justifiable excuse; stubbornly, obstinately, perversely. The word is also employed to characterize a thing done without ground for believing it is lawful, or conduct marked by careless disregard whether or not one has the right so to act.
How the Supreme Court has restated “Willfully”
Each Supreme Court definition of “Willfully,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “Willfully”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “Willfully” — 2,398 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1933–1944
purposely or obstinately; designed to describe the attitude of a carrier, who, having a free will or choice, either intentionally disregards the statute or is plainly indifferent to its requirements; in statutes denouncing acts not in themselves wrong, the word does not require evil purpose or criminal intent but often denotes that which is intentional, or knowing, or voluntary, as distinguished from accidental
That word, when viewed in the context of a highly penal statute restricting freedom of expression, must be taken to mean deliberately and with a specific purpose to do the acts proscribed by Congress.