Latin and English
Phrase
malum prohibitum (pl. mala prohibita)
- (literally) Wrong because prohibited; bad because against the law.
- Law. The Latin phrase used in law to refer to crimes that are made so by statute as opposed to malum in se. A malum prohibitum offense is something that is wrong only because a statue makes it so, or by consensus that society agrees to prohibit the act, and is typically regulatory in nature and often result in no direct injury or danger to the person, entity, or property but only merely create the danger or probability of it which the statute attempts to minimize.
