malice

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noun

A desire to harm others or to see others suffer: despitefulness, ill will, malevolence, maliciousness, malignancy, malignity, meanness, nastiness, poisonousness, spite, spitefulness, venomousness, viciousness. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude.

Definition: hate, vengefulness
Antonyms: benevolence, friendliness, kindness, like, sympathy, thoughtfulness

The intentional commission of a wrongful act, absent justification, with the intent to cause harm to others; conscious violation of the law that injures another individual; a mental state indicating a disposition in disregard of social duty and a tendency toward malfeasance.

In its legal application, the term malice is comprehensive and applies to any legal act that is committed intentionally without just cause or excuse. It does not necessarily imply personal hatred or ill feelings, but is the mental state that is in reckless disregard of the law in general and of the legal rights of others. An example of a malicious act would be committing the tort of slander by labeling a nondrinker an alcoholic in front of all his or her employees.

When applied to the crime of murder, malice is the mental condition that motivates one individual to take the life of another individual without just cause or provocation.

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Quotes:

"Malice is only another name for mediocrity." - Patrick Kavanagh

"In doing good, we are generally cold, and languid, and sluggish; and of all things afraid of being too much in the right. But the works of malice and injustice are quite in another style. They are finished with a bold, masterly hand; touched as they are with the spirit of those vehement passions that call forth all our energies, whenever we oppress and persecute." - Edmund Burke

"There's no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature -- the malice of a good thing is the barb that makes it stick." - Richard Brinsley Sheridan

"It is remarkable by how much a pinch of malice enhances the penetrating power of an idea or an opinion. Our ears, it seems, are wonderfully attuned to sneers and evil reports about our fellow men." - Eric Hoffer

A state of mind that disregards the law and legal rights of others but that does not necessarily involve personal hate or ill will.

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Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Malice is expressed when there is manifested a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being. Malice is implied when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart. Cal. Pen. Code § 188. Malice, in a legal sense, may be inferred from the evidence and imputed to the defendant, depending on the nature of the case.

In many kinds of cases, malice must be found to exist in order to convict (for example malice aforethought is an element of the crime of murder in many jurisdictions). In civil law cases, a finding of malice allows for the award of greater damages, or for punitive damages. The legal concept of malice is most common in Anglo-American law, and in legal systems derived from the English common law system.

In English civil law (being the law of England and Wales), relevant case law in negligence and misfeasance in a public office includes Dunlop v. Woollahra Municipal Council [1982] A.C. 158; Bourgoin S.A. v. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [1986] Q.B. 716; Jones v Swansea City Council [1990] 1 WLR 1453; Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of The Bank of England [2000]^[1] and Elguzouli-Daf v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [1995] 2 QB 335 in which Steyn LJ. found that malice could be made out if the acts were done with an actual intention to cause injury. Malice could be shown if the acts were done in the knowledge of invalidity or lack of power and with knowledge that it would cause or be likely to cause injury. Malice would also exist if the acts were done with reckless indifference or deliberate blindness to that invalidity or lack of power and that likely injury. These elements, with respect, are consistent with the views of the majority albeit that some of those views were expressed tentatively having regard to the basis upon which the case before them was presented.

In English criminal law on mens rea (Latin for "guilty mind"), R v. Cunningham (1957) 2 AER 412 was the pivotal case in establishing both that the test for "maliciously" was subjective rather than objective, and that malice was inevitably linked to recklessness. In that case, a man released gas from the mains into adjoining houses while attempting to steal money from the pay-meter:

In any statutory definition of a crime, malice must be taken ... as requiring either:

1. an actual intention to do the particular kind of harm that in fact was done; or
2. recklessness as to whether such harm should occur or not (i.e. the accused has foreseen that the particular kind of harm might be done and yet has gone on to take the risk of it).

Lord Diplock confirmed the relationship to recklessness in R v Mowatt (1968) 1 QB 421:

In the offence under section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, the word "maliciously" does import upon the part of the person who unlawfully inflicts the wound or other grievous bodily harm an awareness that his act may have the consequence of causing some physical harm to some other person … It is quite unnecessary that the accused should have foreseen that his unlawful act might cause physical harm of the gravity described in the section, i.e. a wound or serious physical injury. It is enough that he should have foreseen that some physical harm to some person, albeit of a minor character, might result.

In the United States, the malice standard was set in the Supreme Court case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, allowing free reporting of the civil rights campaign. The malice standard decides whether press reports about a public figure can be considered defamation or libel.

References

1. ^ Parliament.the-stationary-office.co.uk

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - ondskabsfuldhed, ondsindethed, skadefryd

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    med forsætlig ondskab, med overlæg

Nederlands (Dutch)
moedwil, kwaadaardigheid

Français (French)
n. - méchanceté, (Jur) préméditation

idioms:

• malice aforethought    (Jur) avec préméditation

Deutsch (German)
n. - Bosheit, Schalkhaftigkeit, böse Absicht

idioms:

• malice aforethought    mit Vorbedacht

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - κακία, κακεντρέχεια, μοχθηρία

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    (έγκλημα) εκ προμελέτης

Italiano (Italian)
malizia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - malícia (f), dolo (m) (Jur.)

Русский (Russian)
злоба, преступное намерение

Español (Spanish)
n. - intención delictuosa, maldad, rencor

idioms:

• malice aforethought    con premeditación y alevosía, premeditadamente, en forma premeditada

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - illvilja, brottslig avsikt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
恶意, 怨恨, 蓄意

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    预谋不轨, 蓄意

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 惡意, 怨恨, 蓄意

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    預謀不軌, 蓄意

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 악의 , 적의 , 원한, 범의

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    미리 계획된 살의를 품고

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 悪意, 敵意, 恨み, 犯意

idioms:

• with malice aforethought    殺意を持って

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) حقد, ضغينه, مكر, خبث‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רשעות, רצון לפגוע‬

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