in prohibitum
- noun
- Formal
:
delito administrativo
- Littering is often classified as an in prohibitum offence rather than a serious crime.
Examples
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Many traffic violations are considered in prohibitum offences under the law.
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The judge explained that the act was illegal as an in prohibitum, not because it was morally wrong.
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The act was deemed in prohibitum by the new legislation.
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Many actions are in prohibitum but not necessarily immoral.
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Littering is often classified as an in prohibitum offence rather than a serious crime.
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The judge explained that the act was illegal as an in prohibitum, not because it was morally wrong.
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Many traffic violations are considered in prohibitum offences under the law.
How Wrong
Surface Forms
Morphology
in + prohibitum
Although the preposition 'in' and the root visible in 'prohibitum' cue a relation to 'prohibit' (so a learner might guess the phrase concerns something that is prohibited), the actual form is Latin and the meaning is a specialized legal distinction ('wrongful only because it is prohibited') that goes beyond the simple idea of being prohibited. Because the term is technical, Latin-derived, and carries a nuanced legal sense not predictable from everyday English vocabulary, it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
In prohibitum comes from the Latin words in and prohibitum, an image of an act placed inside the list of banned things because the law says so. That is why an 'in prohibitum' offence is one that is wrong only because it is 'forbidden by law', not because it is always immoral.