actus reus

English

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actus reus

/ˌaktəsˈɹeɪəs/ UK
/ˌaktəsˈɹiːəs/ UK

Where it comes from

From Late Latin āctus reus (“guilty act”), from Latin āctus (“act”) + reus (“guilty”); after Late Latin and English mens rea.

noun actus rei

The act or acts constituting a criminal offense, as distinguished from the intentions or state of mind of the perpetrator (mens rea). It is hornbook criminal law that criminal offenses are defined in terms of an actus reus (criminal act) and a mens rea (criminal mind).

Translations

Every language

noun criminal act

日本語	構成要件 kousei youken
中文	法律構成要件 /法律构成要件 fǎlǜ gòuchéng yàojiàn, 構成要件 /构成要件 gòuchéng yàojiàn, 犯罪行為 /犯罪行为 fànzuì xíngwéi
Deutsch	strafbare Handlung, objektiver Tatbestand
Русский	противопра́вное де́йствие protivoprávnoje déjstvije, правонаруше́ние pravonarušénije

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MLA

"actus reus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/actus%20reus. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

actus reus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/actus%20reus

Chicago

"actus reus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/actus%20reus.

BibTeX

@misc{actus_reus_2026,
  title = {actus reus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/actus%20reus},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}