vagueness doctrine
Defined in 1 dictionary — Case Law
Definitions from Case Law
From 407 U.S. 104 - Colten v. Commonwealth of Kentucky · 1972Most cited · 2,144 citing opinions
The root of the vagueness doctrine is a rough idea of fairness. It is not a principle designed to convert into a constitutional dilemma the practical difficulties in drawing criminal statutes both general enough to take into account a variety of human conduct and sufficiently specific to provide fair warning that certain kinds of conduct are prohibited.