Culprit
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
A person who is guilty, or supposed to be guilty, of a crime. When a prisoner is arraigned, and he pleads not guilty, in English practice, the clerk, who arraigns him on behalf of the crown, replies that the prisoner is guilty, and that he is ready to prove the accusation.
1 Chit. Crim. Law, 416.
See Christian's note to Bl. Comm. cited. The technical meaning has disappeared, and the compound is used in the popular sense as above given.