principal
Let an agent explain the legal sense of principal and related parties to crime, relay common law distinctions and modern reforms from legal sources, describe the named terms and flag the slang alias, route legal matters to lawyers, and distinguish principals from accessories, accomplices, conspirators and the everyday and financial senses of principal.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Understand What a principal to a crime is.
Definition
Definition.
Definition
Definition.
- What is a principal in criminal law, and how does it differ from accessories, accomplices, conspirators and the everyday and financial senses? definition
- Does someone face a criminal matter, in which case a qualified lawyer should advise? boundary
Terms
Named terms.
Terms
Terms.
- What do abettor, accessory and absconder mean, and why is apache different? definition
- Which entry fits the specific term? action
Common law Common law distinctions.
Degrees
Degrees of principal.
Degrees
Degrees.
- How did common law distinguish principals in the first and second degree? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Accessories
Accessories.
Accessories
Accessories.
- How do accessories before and after the fact differ? provenance
- Which sources are cited? provenance
Modern law Modern reforms.
Reform
Statutory reform.
Reform
Reform.
- How have jurisdictions simplified parties to crime? provenance
- Is the information current? boundary
Liability
Joint liability.
Liability
Liability.
- How do accessorial and joint enterprise liability work in general terms? provenance
- Which entry fits joint enterprise? action
Context Other senses.
Senses
Other senses.
Senses
Senses.
- How do the everyday and financial senses of principal differ from this one? provenance
- Which entry fits principal (finance)? action
Slang
Apache slang.
Slang
Slang.
- What did apache mean as early twentieth-century Parisian slang? provenance
- Is the information accurate? boundary
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- noun.person
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.PER
- Facets: substance
- social
- Facets: origin
- conceptual
- Facets: agency
- inert
- Facets: mobility
- not-applicable
- Facets: scale
- not-applicable
- Facets: affordances
- observable
- Other names and narrower kinds
- apache, absconder, abettor, abetter, accessory, accessary, accessory after the fact, accessory before the fact, accessory during the fact, alien absconder, arsonist, incendiary
What it is Filled
In the WordNet criminal-law sense, any person directly involved in committing a criminal offence, as distinct from an accessory, with related terms the registry aliases name such as abettor or abetter, who encourages or assists an offence, accessory or accessary, who helps before or after without being present, and absconder, who flees to avoid arrest or bail, while apache is an old slang term for a Parisian street criminal and appears loosely filed; common law traditionally distinguished principals in the first and second degree and accessories before and after the fact, though many jurisdictions have simplified this. This is general legal information, not advice, and specific matters need a qualified lawyer.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent explain the legal sense of principal and related parties to crime, relay common law distinctions and modern reforms from legal sources, describe the named terms and flag the slang alias, route legal matters to lawyers, and distinguish principals from accessories, accomplices, conspirators and the everyday and financial senses of principal.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Direct involvement
- Distinct from accessories
- Common law degrees
- Often reformed by statute
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Label a named real person as a principal in an offence without a court finding.
- Give advice on avoiding liability for a crime someone is planning or has committed.
- Present general information as legal advice on a particular case.
- Mix criminal law rules from different jurisdictions without saying so.
Only with a human decision
- Reporting suspected offences or sharing information with authorities about a person.
May
- Explain the legal distinction between principals and accessories, naming the jurisdiction.
- Point people to a qualified lawyer when they ask about a specific case.
Moral aspects Filled
- Accusing someone of a crime without a finding can ruin their reputation and rights.
- The line between principal and accessory decides how heavily people are punished.
Who is affected
- People accused
- Victims of crime
- Courts and the public
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the concept; criminal courts and legislatures of each jurisdiction define it.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- oewn-09657157-n - registry parent class
related
- wrongdoer - in WordNet terms
- accessory
- accomplice
- principal (finance) - different sense
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.principal-person
- Open English WordNet: oewn-10494535-n
- WordNet: oewn-09657157-n hypernym of principal (criminal law)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- common law degrees: first and second degree principals note
- accessories: before and after the fact note
- WordNet hypernym: wrongdoer note
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Person directly involved in a criminal offence
- Apache, absconder, abettor, abetter, accessory, accessary
- Accessories assist without committing the act; accomplices help generally; conspirators agree to a plan; the everyday principal is a chief person; the financial principal is a sum
- Not a physical object; a legal category applied in criminal cases.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain the legal sense
- relay common law distinctions
- describe named terms
- route legal matters
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Giving legal advice
- Mixing jurisdictions
- Loosely filed slang alias
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Criminal codes and common law on parties to crime
- Accessories and Abettors Act 1861 in England and Wales
Context of use required Filled
- Classifying parties to a crime.
- principals in the first degree
- principals in the second degree
- accessories before the fact
- accessories after the fact
Sources Filled
- Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-10494535-n - sense and gloss of the concept
- Wiktionary: principal - word senses and usage
Open questions
- The registry alias apache should be moved to slang or history entries
- Should accessory be a separate entry?
- How should jurisdiction differences be linked?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-principal-person/spec.json