Recidive

In French law. The state of an individual who commits a crime or misdemeanor, after having once been condemned for a crime or misdemeanor; a relapse. Many statutes provide that, for a second offense, punishment shall be increased. In those cases the indictment should set forth the crime or misdemeanor as a second offense. The second offense must have been committed after the conviction for the iirst. A defendant could not be convicted of a second offense, as such, until after he had suffered a punishment for the first. Dalloz.