Culprit Law and Legal Definition
Culprit is a person brought into court as accused of crime; a person awaiting trial, esp one who has pleaded not guilty. It was a formal word announced by the clerk of assize or clerk of arraigns as a replication viva voce on behalf of the king when a prisoner had pleaded not guilty. It is a combination of two legal words, "cul" and "prit," the first one signifying "culpable," that is that the prisoner was guilty and the second, "prit" (derived from the Latin "paratus"), that the king was ready to prove him guilty.
