scientern.adv.
/sʌɪˈɛntə/, U.S. /saɪˈɛn(t)ər/ A. n. Law.
The fact that an act was done with knowledge of the probable consequences, esp. when this constitutes a ground for civil damages or criminal punishment. Frequently in to prove (a) scienter: to prove that an act was done knowingly.Often used in relation to the liability of the owner of an animal known to be dangerous for injury or damage caused by that animal; cf. quots. 1787, 1898, 1916.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > crime > criminal intent
purpensed malice1436
malice1454
malice prepensed1454
pretenced malice1483
scienter1618
malice prepense1647
malice propense1650
mala fides1693
malice prepended1833
mens rea1861
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > evidence > give evidence of [verb (transitive)] > prove (a charge)
taint1424
attaint1609
to prove (a) scienter1787
1618 J. Wilkinson Treat. Statutes conc. Coroners & Sherifes i. f. 28 It seemeth hee maketh no difference betweene matter in fact and matter of Record &c. in that he maketh Scienter materiall in the case.
a1685 F. North Argument in Case between W. Soames & S. Barnardiston (1689) 30 No proof could be made of the scienter.
1754 ‘Gentleman of Temple’ Some Considerations Act to prevent Clandestine Marriages 22 Knowingly may depend on Circumstances which may often differ; and though they may be Proof of the Scienter in one Case, they may not be so in another.
1787 J. Morgan Attorney's Vade Mecum I. 277 If a man keep a dog, knowing him to be accustomed to bite sheep, who bit the plaintiff's sheep, whereby they died. The scienter must be proved in evidence.
1824 T. Starkie Pract. Treat. Law of Evid. II. 469 The plaintiff must prove not only the falsity of the representation, but also the scienter, the knowledge of the defect on the part of the defendant.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 23 Nov. 3/2 When the injury is to cattle or sheep, the necessity of proving ‘the scienter’ was abolished by the Dogs Act, 1865.
1916 Canad. Law Jrnl. Mar. 86 Two cases illustrating the law of scienter in its relation to animals have recently been reported.
1962 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 14 251 Smith v. California (1959),..which..holds that scienter is constitutionally required to support an obscenity conviction.
2008 A. R. Palmiter Securities Regulation ix. 372 Failing to correct a misstatement once the error is known supports a finding of scienter.
B. adv. Chiefly Law.
Knowingly.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [adverb] > with reference to crime > with criminal intent
maliciously1421
scienter1673
dolously1939
1673 W. Lucy Answer to Hobbs his Leviathan ii. xxiii. 199 To understand this know that he who obeys Gods commands, must do it as a man scienter knowingly.
1683 J. Dalrymple Decisions Lords of Council & Session I. 205 Being done by the Testator scienter, who cannot be presumed, to be ignorant of his own Assignation, lately made before.
1758 Monthly Rev. Sept. 240 It is plain.., that he acted scienter, and therefore he stands no less culpable in a moral, than in a political sense.
1822 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 12 June Counts for forging and..publishing as true, scienter, a certain promissory note.
1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator (new ed.) IV. 252/2 The use, therefore, of the name of another manufacturer, whether done scienter or not, is an interference with his business.
1920 H. A. Ayrinhac Penal Legislation in New Code Canon Law 209 To incur the censure they must act scienter and know that the school to which they send the children is a sectarian school which does not even attempt to observe neutrality.
1984 S. P. Shapiro Wayward Capitalists vii. 187 The court ruled that..it was necessary to demonstrate that the offense was done ‘scienter’, with evil intention to defraud, not simply negligence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adv.1618