corpus delicti

corpus delicti
    n 1: the body of evidence that constitute the offence; the
         objective proof that a crime has been committed (sometimes
         mistakenly thought to refer to the body of a homicide
         victim)
    

Corpus \Cor"pus\ (-p[u^]s), n.; pl. {Corpora} (-p[-o]*r[.a]).
   [L.]
   A body, living or dead; the corporeal substance of a thing.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Corpus callosum} (k[a^]l*l[=o]"s[u^]m); pl. {Corpora
      callosa} (-s?) [NL., callous body] (Anat.), the great band
      of commissural fibers uniting the cerebral hemispheres.
      See {Brain}.

   {Corpus Christi} (kr[i^]s"t[imac]) [L., body of Christ] (R.
      C. Ch.), a festival in honor of the eucharist, observed on
      the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

   {Corpus Christi cloth}. Same as {Pyx cloth}, under {Pyx}.

   {Corpus delicti} (d[-e]*l[i^]k"t[imac]) [L., the body of the
      crime] (Law), the substantial and fundamental fact of the
      comission of a crime; the proofs essential to establish a
      crime.

   {Corpus luteum} (l[=u]"t[-e]*[u^]m); pl. {Corpora lutea}
      (-[.a]). [NL., luteous body] (Anat.), the reddish yellow
      mass which fills a ruptured Graafian follicle in the
      mammalian ovary.

   {Corpus striatum} (str[-i]*[=a]"t[u^]m); pl. {Corpora
      striata} (-t[.a]). [NL., striate body] (Anat.), a ridge in
      the wall of each lateral ventricle of the brain.
      [1913 Webster]
    

CORPUS DELICTI. The body of the offence; the essence of the crime
     2. It is a general rule not to convict unless the corpus delicti can be 
established, that is, until the dead body has been found. Best on Pres. Sec. 
201; 1 Stark. Ev. 575, See 6 C. & P. 176; 2 Hale, P. C. 290. Instances have 
occurred of a person being convicted of having killed another, who, after 
the supposed criminal has been put to death for the supposed offence, has 
made his appearance alive. The wisdom of the rule is apparent; but it has 
been questioned whether, in extreme cases, it may not be competent to prove 
the basis of the corpus delicti by presumptive evidence. 3 Benth. Jud. Ev. 
234; Wills on Circum. Ev. 105; Best on Pres. Sec. 204. See Death. 
    

51 Moby Thesaurus words for "corpus delicti":
      ashes, body, bones, cadaver, carcass, carrion,
      circumstantial evidence, clay, collateral evidence, corpse,
      crowbait, cumulative evidence, dead body, dead man, dead person,
      decedent, direct evidence, documentary evidence, dry bones, dust,
      earth, embalmed corpse, evidence in chief, ex parte evidence,
      extrinsic evidence, food for worms, hearsay, hearsay evidence,
      incriminating evidence, indirect evidence, intrinsic evidence,
      late lamented, mortal remains, mummification, mummy, oral evidence,
      organic remains, presumptive evidence, prima facie evidence,
      relics, reliquiae, remains, skeleton, stiff, tenement of clay,
      the dead, the deceased, the defunct, the departed, the loved one,
      word-of-mouth evidence