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RULE OF LENITY

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rule of lenitynoun
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rule_of_lenity#English) • CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) • via Kaikki (https://kaikki.org/dictionary/English/)
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A common law rule according to which an ambiguous criminal law should be interpreted in the way most favorable to the defendant.

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