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Malum Prohibitum

Defined in 4 dictionaries — Cyclopedic (1922), Ballentine's (1916), Black's (1910), Black's (1891)

The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary

Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922

A thing wrong only because prohibited by law. The plural form is mala prohibita (q. v.)

Ballentine's Law Dictionary

James A. Ballentine · 1916

An act forbidden by statute, but not otherwise wrong. See 114 Mass. 323, 19 Am. Rep. 362.

Black's Law Dictionary

Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910

A wrong prohibited; a thing which is wrong because prohibited; an act which is not inherently immoral, but becomes so because its commission is expressly forbidden by positive law; an act involving an illegality resulting from positive law. Contrasted with malum in se. Story, Ag. § 346.

Defined under Malum in Black's Law Dictionary.

A Dictionary of Law

Henry Campbell Black · 1891

A wrong prohibited; a thing which is wrong because prohibited; an act which is not inherently immoral, but becomes so because its commission is expressly forbidden by positive law; an act involving an illegality resulting from positive law. Contrasted with malum in se. Story, Ag. § 346. Malum quo communius eo pejus. The more common an evil is, the worse it is. Branch, Princ. Malus usus abolendus est. A bad or invalid custom is [ought] to be abolished. Litt. § 212; Co. Litt. 141; 1 Bl. Comm. 76; Broom, Max. 921.