legal justification
Authorized grounds for
Legal justification is a recognized reason that makes an otherwise unlawful act permissible under the law.
Self-defense is the classic example: killing someone is ordinarily murder, but killing in self-defense may be legally justified.
Other justifications include defense of others, necessity, and lawful use of force by police.
A justified act is not criminal, distinguishing justification from excuse, where the act remains wrong but the actor isn't blamed.
- self-defenseProtecting oneself from harm
- reasonable forceLegally justified physical intervention
- due processGuaranteed judicial fairness
- castle doctrineRight to defend home forcefully
- imminent threatDanger about to occur
reasonable belief · just cause · constitutional rights · lawful authority · defensible · excusability · mitigating circumstances · good faith · fair use · judicial review · justifiable · proportionality · human dignity · defense of others · citizen's arrest · public interest · grounds · burden of proof
- legal necessitynecessity, duress, compulsion, imminent danger, imminent threat
- self-defenseself-defense, martial arts, self-protection, karate, pepper spray
legal justificationcriminal liability
Legally answerable for offenses
unlawful act · illegality · civil liability · breach of law · criminal offense
legal justificationaggravating circumstance
Condition increasing crime severity