Legal Definitions - conjurator

A conjurator is a historical legal term referring to an individual who has entered into a solemn agreement or sworn an oath with others, typically for a clandestine or unlawful purpose. Essentially, it describes someone who is part of a conspiracy, bound by a shared commitment or promise.

• Example 1 (Historical Political Conspiracy):

  Imagine a group of disgruntled nobles in 17th-century France who secretly meet and swear an oath of allegiance to each other, vowing to depose an unpopular monarch and replace him with a new ruler. Each noble who takes this oath and commits to the plot would be considered a conjurator, as they have collectively sworn to a common, illicit objective against the crown.

• Example 2 (Criminal Enterprise):

  Consider a scenario in the American Old West where several individuals, perhaps members of an outlaw gang, gather in a hidden saloon. They make a solemn pact, perhaps by shaking hands and uttering a shared vow, to commit a series of train robberies and to protect each other from law enforcement. Each person who participates in this agreement and commits to the plan becomes a conjurator, united by their shared oath to carry out the criminal enterprise.

• Example 3 (Modern Context, Emphasizing Shared Commitment):

  While less common in modern legal parlance, the spirit of a conjurator can be seen in situations where individuals form a tight-knit group with a shared, illicit commitment. For instance, if a small group of employees at a company secretly agree to falsify financial records to embezzle funds, and they make a mutual promise to keep silent and support each other's actions, each employee involved in this pact could historically be described as a conjurator. Their shared commitment to the fraudulent scheme, even if not a formal spoken oath, binds them together in a conspiracy.