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Comment by JumpCrisscross

2 years ago

> From Cambridge's (or any other) dictionary

Where did you get this? I'm seeing "to officially accuse someone of committing a crime" [1]. Criminality is esssential to the term. (EDIT: Found it. Cambridge Academic Content dictionary. It seems to be a simplified text [2]. I'm surprised they summarised the legal definition that way versus going for the colloquial one.)

You have to go back to the 18th century to find the term used to refer to initiating any legal action [3][4].

[1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prosecut...

[2] https://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/dictio...

[3] https://verejnazaloba.cz/en/more-about-public-prosecution/hi...

[4] https://www.etymonline.com/word/prosecute

14 comments

JumpCrisscross

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moralestapia  2 years ago

Scroll down on that site, literally. Words have more that one meaning.

Here's what I get from MacOS's dictionary: institute legal proceedings against (a person or organization).

I can also be pedantic and insist that, even under the strict interpretation you are vouching for ...

>Looking/sounding like somebody else (even if its famous) is not prosecutable.

... is a correct argument.

  • JumpCrisscross  2 years ago

    If this is really your hill to die on, go for it. Using “prosecute” to refer to civil litigation is not standard English in any dialect circa 1850.

selimthegrim  2 years ago

I think it’s still common informal usage to prosecute a (moral) case. Maybe more common in the UK where you can bring a literal private prosecution.

Although I think what lawyers say these days is that it’s not colorable.

  • JumpCrisscross  2 years ago

    > it’s still common informal usage to prosecute a (moral) case

    Sure, those are other definitions [1], e.g. to prosecute an argument. Within a legal context, however, it is black and white.

    > in the UK where you can bring a literal private prosecution

    For crimes. One wouldn't say one is prosecuting a defendant for e.g. libel. (Some states have private prosecution [2].)

    [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prosecute

    [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prosecution#United_Sta...

    • Gormo  2 years ago

      The third definition listed on your Merriam-Webster link seems to be what's applicable here, and very clearly describes the term as applicable to any legal action.

      This is consistent with my understanding of the term as a native English speaker, having experienced the term "prosecute" being used in reference to both criminal and civil cases in all forms of discourse, verbal and written, formal and informal, for decades, and only first encountering the claim that it shouldn't be used for civil cases here in this thread, today.

      2 replies →

  • amenhotep  2 years ago

    Why would that make it more common in the UK? Being able to bring a private prosecution strengthens the distinction, a regular citizen can both sue someone for a civil offense and prosecute someone for a criminal offense. It makes it more clearly nonsense to refer to suing someone for slandering you as "prosecuting" them because you can bring prosecutions and that is not one!