Mitigation
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary · Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Reduction; diminution; lessening of the amount of a penalty or punishment. Circumstances which do not amount to a justification or excuse of the act committed may yet be properly considered in mitigation of the punishment; as, for example, the fact that one who stole a loaf of bread was starving. mitigation of damages which are no answer to the action itself. See "Damages;" "Character."