Legal Definitions - compassing

Compassing refers to the act of planning, devising, or plotting something, often with a hidden or malicious intent. Historically, this term was most famously used in English law to describe the crime of plotting against the life of the monarch. While no longer a common legal term in modern statutes, it captures the essence of secretly formulating a scheme, particularly one that is underhanded or harmful.

• Example 1: Corporate Espionage

  A group of executives from a struggling technology firm secretly met over several months, meticulously planning how to infiltrate a competitor's network to steal their groundbreaking new software designs. They discussed various methods, assigned roles, and set timelines for the illicit operation.

  This scenario illustrates "compassing" because the executives were deliberately and secretly contriving or plotting an underhanded scheme (the theft of intellectual property) with malicious intent to benefit their own company at the expense of another.

• Example 2: Financial Fraud

  Several individuals spent weeks in a hidden office, creating fake identities, forging documents, and setting up shell corporations as part of a complex scheme to defraud unsuspecting investors of their retirement savings through a fictitious investment opportunity.

  Here, the individuals were "compassing" by carefully and secretly devising and plotting a deceptive financial fraud, demonstrating the element of underhanded planning for a harmful outcome.

• Example 3: Political Sabotage

  During a local election, a campaign manager and their core team held clandestine meetings to strategize how to spread damaging, unverified rumors about their opponent's personal life through anonymous online channels, hoping to erode public trust just before election day.

  This demonstrates "compassing" as the campaign team was plotting and contriving an underhanded plan (spreading false rumors) to achieve a specific, unethical political objective (damaging a rival's reputation).