Immunology

Food allergies can strike at any age

(HealthDay)—You might be surprised to learn that food allergies can start in adulthood and involve a food you've eaten without a problem for your entire life.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Study examines impact of texting on students' emotional well-being

Sleep deprivation has long been considered a significant problem for college freshmen during their transition to campus life. Now, a new study by a Washington and Lee University psychology professor identifies another culprit ...

Inflammatory disorders

Small protein plays big role in asthma severity

A new culprit has been identified that likely plays a big role in the severity of asthma—a small protein chemokine called CCL26. These findings were published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology and represent the first ...

Medical research

Arrhythmia culprit caught in action

Using powerful X-rays, University of British Columbia researchers have reconstructed a crime scene too small for any microscope to observe – and caught the culprit of arrhythmia in action.

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Culprit

A culprit, under English law properly the prisoner at the bar, is one accused of a crime. The term is used, generally, of one guilty of an offence. In origin the word is a combination of two Anglo-French legal words, culpable: guilty, and prit or prest: Old French: ready. On the prisoner at the bar pleading not guilty, the clerk of the crown answered culpable, and states that he was ready (prest) to join issue. The words "cul. prist" were then entered on the roll, showing that issue had been joined. When French law terms were discontinued, the words were taken as forming one word addressed to the prisoner.

The formula "Culprit, how will you be tried?" in answer to a plea of "not guilty," is first found in the trial for murder of the 7th Earl of Pembroke in 1678.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Under modern criminal law, the preferred term is defendant.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA