PROSECUTE

7 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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PROSECUTEAuthored
The Law Mind • 1457 words
Definition
To prosecute is to carry forward a legal proceeding to its conclusion. The term operates in two distinct but related senses in legal usage: 1. Criminal prosecution. To proceed against a person by formal criminal process — initiating charges, pursuing them through the courts, and seeking conviction and punishment. This is the dominant modern sense. The prosecuting party is typically the government (federal, state, or local), acting in the public interest. 2. Civil or procedural prosecution. To carry on any judicial proceeding — civil action, appeal, writ, or other legal process — through to final resolution. A party "prosecutes" a lawsuit in the same sense that they press it forward with diligence and without abandonment. A third usage, now rare in legal contexts but surviving in older documents, is non-judicial: to prosecute a scheme, claim, or purpose means to pursue it actively to completion. This sense appears in older instruments and pleadings.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To start criminal proceedings against someone; to charge and try; also, to pursue something to the end. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to carry on; to continue — as in prosecuting a scheme, hope, or claim. Also, to pursue with the intention of punishing. The common and legal meanings align closely in the criminal sense, but the gap emerges in the civil and procedural sense. Non-lawyers typically hear "prosecute" and think exclusively of criminal proceedings. Legal instruments — particularly older bonds, writs, and procedural orders — routinely require a party to "prosecute with effect," meaning to pursue a civil action diligently to final judgment. A researcher reading such language through a modern criminal lens will misread the document entirely.
Common Confusion
PROSECUTE vs. PURSUE vs. MAINTAIN: In older pleading and bond language, "prosecute," "pursue," and "maintain" an action were sometimes used interchangeably to mean pressing a claim forward. Modern usage has narrowed "prosecute" toward its criminal sense, making older civil uses harder to recognize. Researchers encountering "prosecute a writ of error" or "prosecute an appeal" in historical sources should not assume criminal context. PROSECUTE vs. PERSECUTE: Distinct words with distinct meanings. "Prosecute" is the lawful initiation of legal process. "Persecute" is unlawful or oppressive targeting. The similarity in form occasionally produces confusion in non-legal writing found in historical records, correspondence, and witness accounts within the corpus.
Core Elements
For criminal prosecution to proceed, the following conditions are generally required: 1. A charging instrument. An information, indictment, or complaint formally initiating the proceeding. 2. Jurisdiction. The prosecuting authority must have lawful power over both the offense and the person. 3. A prosecuting party with standing. In criminal matters, this is ordinarily the state or sovereign; private prosecution, while historically recognized, is limited or abolished in most U.S. jurisdictions. 4. An accused person. The proceeding is directed against an identifiable defendant. 5. An offense charged. A specific criminal violation must be alleged. For civil prosecution (prosecuting an action), the operative requirement in historical usage was diligence — continuing the proceeding without unnecessary delay, fraud, or abandonment. Anderson's phrase "prosecute with effect" captures this: the obligation was not merely to commence but to carry through to a meaningful outcome.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES Criminal prosecution: State or federal government proceeds against an individual or entity for violation of criminal law. Private prosecution: Historically, a private citizen could initiate and carry a criminal prosecution. This practice has been substantially curtailed or eliminated in American jurisdictions, though it persists in some common law systems. Civil prosecution (of an action): The carrying forward of a civil lawsuit, appeal, or other non-criminal proceeding. Prosecution with effect: A term of art in older bond and replevin contexts, requiring that a proceeding be carried to a successful or final termination — not merely commenced.
Why It Matters in Research
The single most important navigational point: the word "prosecute" in a historical legal document does not automatically signal criminal proceedings. Before roughly the mid-nineteenth century, legal instruments routinely used "prosecute" in its broader procedural sense — to carry on any action. A replevin bond requiring the plaintiff to "prosecute with effect" is a civil obligation. An order to "prosecute the appeal" has nothing to do with crime. Researchers indexing, coding, or analyzing corpus documents must treat the surrounding procedural context, not the word alone, as determinative. In the criminal sense, the term is closely tied to prosecutorial discretion — the decision whether to bring charges at all. Corpus materials on sovereign immunity, government actor liability, and domestic violence enforcement will frequently discuss not just how prosecutions proceed but when and why they are declined. "Failure to prosecute" is itself a legal and political category with significant doctrinal consequences. Jurisdictional variation in who may prosecute matters for historical research. The rise of professional public prosecutors (district attorneys, state's attorneys) across the nineteenth century displaced older private prosecution models. Documents predating this shift may reflect assumptions about prosecutorial standing that no longer apply. Note also that "prosecution" can appear as both a process noun (the prosecution of the case) and a party noun (the prosecution rested its case). These uses coexist in trial records and must be read in context.
Historical Dictionary Support
The five historical sources converge on a two-part definition: (1) to carry on a judicial proceeding generally, and (2) to proceed against a person criminally. This ordering is significant — the general civil sense comes first in Black's, Burrill's, and Anderson's, suggesting that the broader meaning was not a secondary gloss but the foundational usage. Anderson's is the most useful of the historical sources for research purposes. It isolates the phrase "prosecute with effect" and defines it with precision: to carry on with due diligence, to a final issue or judgment, without fraud or unnecessary delay. It then addresses the specific context of replevin bonds, clarifying that "with effect" means with success, or to a successful termination — a narrower standard than mere continuation. This distinction is operationally important when reading bond conditions in historical property records. Bouvier's connects prosecution directly to criminal law and the public interest, emphasizing that prosecutions are carried on in the name of the government for the security and happiness of the people. This framing reflects the late nineteenth-century consolidation of public prosecution as the norm and is less useful for understanding earlier periods when private prosecution remained viable. Burrill's traces the term to the Latin prosequi (to follow after), consistent with its original sense of pursuing or following through — a meaning that cuts across criminal, civil, and non-legal uses alike. What the historical dictionaries collectively underweight: the prosecutorial discretion dimension. They define the mechanics of prosecution but say little about the decision to prosecute or not, which is the terrain most heavily litigated in modern doctrine and most heavily represented in the encyclopedia corpus.
Jurisdictional Note
In the United States, criminal prosecution is almost exclusively a governmental function. Private prosecution survives in a handful of jurisdictions in limited forms but is not a general right. In England and other common law jurisdictions, private prosecution remains more broadly available, which is relevant when working with English legal materials in the corpus. Federal and state prosecutorial authority can overlap in dual sovereignty contexts, meaning a single course of conduct may be prosecuted by both without double jeopardy bar.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Sovereign Immunity and Criminal Prosecution of Government Actors (The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia) Environmental Enforcement — Citizen Suits, Penalties, and Criminal Prosecution (The Law Mind Administrative Law & Government Encyclopedia) Domestic Violence — Criminal Prosecution of Domestic Violence Offenses (The Law Mind Family Law Encyclopedia)
Related Terms
Prosecution (n.) — the proceeding itself; also the prosecuting party Prosecutor — the individual carrying the criminal proceeding District Attorney / State's Attorney / United States Attorney — titles for public prosecutors by jurisdiction Prosecutorial Discretion — the power to decide whether to bring charges Nolle Prosequi — formal abandonment of a prosecution Information — charging instrument filed by prosecutor without grand jury Indictment — grand jury charging instrument initiating prosecution Private Prosecution — historicallyprosecution by a private citizen Plaintiff in Error — civil analog in appellate contexts Maintain (an action) — older synonym in civil procedural usage Abandon / Discontinue — antonyms in the procedural sense Criminal Procedure — governing framework for how prosecutions proceed Dual Sovereignty — doctrine permitting prosecution by multiple sovereigns
PROSECUTEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
To follow up; to carry on an action or other judicial proceeding; to proceed against a person criminally. |
PROSECUTEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
To follow up; to carry on ap action or other judicial proceeding ; to proceed against a person criminally.
PROSECUTEmain
Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890
To carry on a judicial proceeding; in particular, a proceeding of a criminal nature. Prosecute with effect. To carry on, with due diligence, to a final issue or judgment, and without fraud or unnecessary delay: as, to prosecute an appeal, or a writ of error.6 The condition to prosecute a replevin bond "with effect" is to be construed as meaning with success, or to a successful termination. The condition is broken by a dismissal of the action." Prosecution. 1. The act of conducting any judicial proceeding; also, such proceeding itself. 1 Ferguson v. Arthur, 117 U. S. 487 (1886): The Imperial, Webster's, and Worcester's Dictionaries; Duty Laws, R. S. § 2504, Sched. M. p. 480. accused; that the charge was unfounded; that it was made without probable cause; and that the defendant was actuated by malice. Malice alone is not sufficient, as a person actuated by the plainest malice may nevertheless prefer a well-founded accusation, and have a justifiable reason for the prosecution of the charge. In trespass against a collector of revenue for a wrongful seizure, the sole question is probable cause." Malice and the want of probable cause must both concur. The existence of malice is always for the jury. The question of probable cause is for the court, on the facts found. Malice may be inferred from the want of probable cause, but the want of probable cause cannot be inferred from any degree of even express malice. Failure in a suit is not evidence of either malice or want of legal cause. 1 [4 Bl. Com. 301. 2 Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U. S. 269 (1879), Strong, J. • Harger v. Thomas, 44 Pa. 130 (1862): 1 Chitty, Cr. L.; State v. Williams, 34 La. An. 1199 (1882); 30 Kan. 763; 3 2 Commonwealth v. Boston, &c. R. Co., 11 Cush. 512, A. K. Marsh. 74. 516 (1853). * The Mayor v. Lord, 9 Wall. 413 (1869). 101 U. S. 15; 1 Black, 266; 86 Pa. 127. * L. prosequi, q. v. • Kasson v. Brocker, 47 Wis. 87-88 (1879), Taylor, J. Boom v. St. Paul Foundery, &c. Co., 33 Minn. 254 (1885), cases, Dickinson, J.; 101 U. S. 15; 7 Conn. 436; 5 C. & B. 284; 8 M. & W. 477. State v. City of Topeka, 36 Kan. 87-88 (1886), cases. • Hamilton v. Smith, 39 Mich. 229 (1878), Graves, J. • Wheeler v. Nesbitt, 24 How. 549-50 (1860), Clifford, J. Stacey v. Emery, 97 U. S. 645 (1878), Hunt, J. Stewart v. Sonneborn, 98 U. S. 192-96 (1878), cases, Strong, J. See further McCarthy v. De Armitt (Pittsburgh Riot, July, 1877), 99 Pa. 63 (1881), cases; Jones v. Jones, 71 Cal. 89 (1886); Neall v. Hart, 115 Pa. 354 (1887);
PROSECUTEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To follow or pursue with a view to reach, execute, or accomplish; to endeavor to obtain or complete; to carry on; to continue; as, to prosecute a scheme, hope, or claim. I am beloved Hermia; Why should not I, then, prosecute my right Shak. To seek to obtain by legal process; as, to prosecute a right or a claim in a court of law. To pursue with the intention of punishing; to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment, before a legal tribunal; to proceed against judicially; as, to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot. To acquit themselves and prosecute their foes. Milton.
PROSECUTEv.
Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913
To follow after. [Obs.] Latimer. To institute and carry on a legal prosecution; as, to prosecute for public offenses. Blackstone.
prosecuteverb
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
To start criminal proceedings against. | To charge, try. | To seek to obtain by legal process. | To pursue something to the end.

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