Flagrante Delicto

Definition of Flagrante Delicto

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Flagrante Delicto : (Latin)

In the commission of an offence. Certain types of *arrest can only be made when a person is in the act of committing an offence (See arrestable offence). The phrase is most commonly applied to the situation in which a person finds his or her spouse in the act of committing adultery. Someone who kills his or her spouse in this situation may have a defence of *provocation.