Words / M / Law

mens rea

noun/mɛnz ˈreɪə/

C1CEFR level
62/100Rarity: rare
TechnicalRegister

The guilty state of mind required for a crime.

Without mens rea, the act was not an offence.

Similar: guilty mind, intent

Origin: Latin 'guilty mind'.

Topic: Criminal law in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Criminal law