CRIMEN FALSI - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

CRIMEN FALSIAuthored

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Definition

A Latin phrase from Roman civil law meaning, literally, "the crime of falsifying." In its classical form, crimen falsi encompassed any fraudulent act involving deception or falsification — committed by writing (forgery of wills or instruments), by words (perjury or false witness), or by acts (counterfeiting currency, adulterating coin, using false weights and measures, counterfeiting seals). The unifying principle was dishonesty: each mode of commission involved a deliberate attempt to corrupt truth to the prejudice of another.

In modern American and English law, crimen falsi has shed much of its original breadth and functions primarily as an evidentiary concept. It describes a category of crimes involving dishonesty or false statement that may be used to impeach a witness's credibility. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2), crimes of crimen falsi — those requiring proof of dishonest act or false statement — are admissible to attack credibility without the court's usual balancing of probative value against prejudicial effect. The practical significance is substantial: unlike felony convictions generally, crimen falsi convictions are admissible automatically.

Common Confusion

Two distinct uses of this term cause persistent confusion in legal research:

First, the classical civil-law meaning (a broad category of fraudulent crimes) should not be read into modern evidentiary contexts. A researcher encountering crimen falsi in a Digest citation or in Bouvier is reading about a Roman criminal classification; a researcher encountering it in a brief about impeachment is reading about a narrow evidentiary category shaped by modern rules.

Second, not every crime involving dishonesty qualifies as crimen falsi for evidentiary purposes. Courts have split on whether crimes such as theft, drug offenses with deceptive elements, or tax fraud qualify. The test is whether the offense requires proof of a false statement or act of deception as an element — not merely that the defendant happened to deceive someone in the commission of a different crime. Researchers should not assume that a historical source's list of crimen falsi offenses maps cleanly onto modern evidentiary doctrine.

Recognized Forms

/SUBTYPES

Classical civil-law sources identify three modes:
- By writing: forgery of wills, instruments, public records
- By words: perjury, false testimony, subornation of perjury
- By acts: counterfeiting currency, altering coin, using false weights and measures, counterfeiting seals

Modern doctrine focuses on the category as a whole rather than these subdivisions, but the tripartite structure appears in every major historical dictionary entry and reflects the structure of Digest 48.10.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers face a genuine interpretive hazard with this term: its meaning in pre-twentieth-century sources is fundamentally different from its meaning in modern procedural and evidentiary sources. Using a Bouvier or Black's definition to interpret a contemporary evidence question — or vice versa — produces error.

In historical sources, crimen falsi is a substantive criminal-law category from Roman civil law, transplanted into English and American legal vocabulary primarily through the civil-law tradition and treatise writers. It carries wide coverage and moral weight: it was used to describe crimes that disqualified a person from testifying altogether (infamy), not merely crimes that might reduce their credibility before a jury.

In modern sources, the term survives almost exclusively in the impeachment context, drained of its Roman breadth and redefined by evidentiary rules. Courts and commentators still argue about which specific modern offenses fall within the category, making it an active doctrinal battleground.

For corpus researchers: the term appears frequently in trial court records, criminal procedure debates, and evidence treatises from the mid-nineteenth century through the present, but the meaning pivots sharply around codification of evidence rules in the twentieth century. Cross-referencing with the Law Mind Encyclopedia entries on impeachment and character evidence will clarify the modern trajectory.

Jurisdictionally, state courts vary in how they define crimen falsi for impeachment purposes, with some following the federal approach closely and others applying older common-law formulations that track the broader historical meaning.

Historical Dictionary Support

All four source dictionaries — Black's (both editions), Bouvier's, and Burrill's — converge on the classical civil-law definition, citing Digest 48.10 as the primary authority and Hallifax's analysis of civil law as secondary support. The agreement is essentially verbatim across Black's first and second editions and Burrill's, suggesting direct textual dependence on a common source rather than independent analysis.

Bouvier's adds the useful precision that the crime was committed "to the prejudice of another" and frames it as a "fraudulent alteration, or forgery, to conceal or alter the truth" — an emphasis on the victim-facing element that slightly sharpens the moral core of the definition. Bouvier also specifically names false keys alongside coins and weights, expanding the acts-based subcategory marginally beyond Black's and Burrill's.

What all four historical dictionaries miss entirely is the modern evidentiary meaning. None anticipates the transformation of crimen falsi into an impeachment-specific category under codified evidence rules. A researcher relying solely on these sources would have no warning that the term's primary modern use is procedural rather than substantive. This is the critical gap between the shelf sources and current doctrine.

Jurisdictional Note

Federal courts apply Federal Rule of Evidence 609(a)(2), which treats crimen falsi convictions as automatically admissible for impeachment. State courts vary: some follow the federal rule structure, others retain common-law formulations that reach back toward the broader historical definition, and some have codified their own lists of qualifying offenses. A researcher working in state court practice should verify the applicable state evidence code before assuming the federal analysis controls.

Encyclopedia Cross-Reference

See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Impeachment of Witnesses; Character Evidence; Perjury

CRIMEN FALSImain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

In the civil law. The crime of falsifying; which might be com- mitted either by writing, as by the forgery of a will or other instrument; by words, as by bearing false witness, or perjury; and by acts, as by counterfeiting or adulterating the public money, dealing with false weights and measures, counterfeiting seals, and other fraudulent and deceitful practices. 10; Hallifax, Civil Law, b. 3, c. 56-59. Dig. 48, 12, nn. D E A crime may be defined to be any act done in violation of those duties which an indi- vidual owes to the community, and for the breach of which the law has provided that truth, to the prejudice of another." Ersk. F the offender shall make satisfaction to the public. Bell. A crime or public offense is an act commit- ted or omitted in violation of a law forbid- ding or commanding it, and to which is an- nexed, upon conviction, either of the follow- ing punishments: (1) Death; (2) impris- onment; (3) fine; (4) removal from office; or (5) disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or prolit in this state. Pen. Code Cal. § 15. A crime or misdemeanor shall consist in a violation of a public law, in the commission of which there shall be a union or joint oper- ation of act and intention, or criminal neg- ligence. Code Ga. 1882, § 4292. According to Blackstone, the word "crime" denotes such offenses as are of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while smaller faults and omissions of less consequence are called "mis- demeanors." But the better use appears to be to make crime a term of broad and gen- eral import, including both felonies and mis- demeanors, and hence covering all infrac- tions of the criminal law. In this sense it is not a technical phrase, strictly speaking, (as "felony" and "misdemeanor" are,) but a convenient general term. In this sense, also, "offense" or "public offense" should be used as synonymous with it. The distinction between a crime and a tort or civil injury is that the former is a breach and vio- lation of the public right and of duties due to the whole community considered as such, and in its social and aggregate capacity; whereas the latter In Scotch law. It has been defined: "A fraudulent imitation or suppression of Inst. 4, 4, 66. At common law. Any crime which may injuriously affect the administration of jus- tice, by the introduction of falsehood and fraud. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 373. as a designation of any specific crime, but as In modern law. This phrase is not used a general designation of a class of offenses, G including all such as involve deceit or falsi- H fication; e. g., forgery, counterfeiting, using false weights or measures, perjury, etc. Includes forgery, perjury, subornation of ministration of justice. 29 Ohio St. 358. perjury, and offenses affecting the public ad- I Crimen falsi dicitur, cum quis illicitus, cui non fuerit ad hæc data auctoritas, de sigillo regis, rapto vel invento, brevia, cartasve consignaverit. Fleta, lib. 1, c. 23. J The crime of forgery is when any one illicitly, to whom power has not been given for such purposes, has signed writs or charters with the king's seal, either stolen or found.

CRIMEN FALSImain

Bouvier's Law Dictionary • 1928

In Civil Law. A fraudulent alteration, or forgery, to conceal or alter the truth, to the prejudice of an- other. This crime may be committed in three ways, namely: by forgery; by false declarations or false oath, - perjury; by acts, as by dealing with false weights and measures, by altering the current coin, by making false keys, and the like; see Dig. 48. 10. 22; 34.8.2: Code 9.22; 2. 5. 9. 11. 16. 17. 23. 24; Merlin, Répert.; 1 Bro. Civ. Law 426; 1 Phill. Ev. 26; 2 Stark. Ev. 715. At Common Law. Any crime which may injuriously affect the administration of justice, by the introduction of falsehood and fraud. 1 Greenl. Ev. § 373; 13 Ga. 97; 29 Ohio 351, 358; 55 Ala. 239; 4 Sawy. 211. The meaning of this term at common law is not well defined. It has been held to in- clude forgery; 5 Mod. 74; perjury, subor- nation of perjury; Co. Litt. 66; Comyns, Dig. Testmoigne (A 5); suppression of testi- mony by bribery or conspiracy to procure the absence of a witness: Ry. & M. 434; conspiracy to accuse of crime: 2 Hale, Pl. Cr. 277: 2 Leach 496; 3 Stark. 21; 2 Dods. 191; barratry; 2 Salk. 690. The effect of a conviction for a crime of this class is in- famy, and incompetence to testify; 80 Va. 288. Statutes sometimes provide what shall be such crimes.

CRIMEN FALSImain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867

Lat. In the civil law. The crime of falsifying; which might be committed either by writing, as by the forgery of a will or other instrument; by words, as by bearing false witness, or perjury; or by acts, as by counterfeiting or adulterating the public money, dealing with false weights and measures, counterfeiting seals, and other fraudulent and deceitful practices. Dig. 48. 10. Hallifax, Anal. b. 3, ch. 12, num. 56—59. See Falsum. In the common law, this term is also used, but in no precise or determinate sense. In the ancient law of England, it was employed to denote the making of false charters, false measures, false money, and other falsifications. 1 Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, 200. 2 Id. 8, 9. Glanv. lib. 14, c. 7. More particularly it was used to signify the two crimes of counterfeiting or falsifying the king's seal, and of making false money, (including the reduction of the value of genuine coin, as by clipping.) Bract. fol. 104 b, 119 b. Fleta, lib. 1, c. 22. In Scotch law, it has been defined, "a fraudulent imitation or suppression of truth, to the prejudice of another." Ersk. Inst. b. 4, tit. 4, § 66. In modern law, its predominant signification is forgery; though it includes also perjury and offences of a kindred character. 4 Bl. Com. 89, 247. 4 Steph. Com. 89, 247. But it appears never to have been employed in the extensive sense given to it by the civil law. 1 Greenleaf on Ev. §373, and note. Wilde, J. 11 Metcalf's R. 302.

crimen falsinoun

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

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A crime involving a falsehood, such as forgery, perjury, or counterfeiting.

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