Legal Definitions - connive

To connive means to knowingly overlook or silently allow another person's wrongdoing or improper behavior, often implying a degree of complicity or a shared understanding without direct involvement. It suggests a deliberate failure to act or report something that one is aware is wrong.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a store manager who notices an employee frequently giving unauthorized discounts to friends and family, causing the business to lose money. Instead of confronting the employee or reporting the behavior to upper management, the manager chooses to ignore it, perhaps because they want to avoid conflict or they benefit from a relaxed atmosphere in the store. In this scenario, the manager is conniving by knowingly allowing the employee's theft to continue without intervention.

• Consider a situation where a city council member discovers that a colleague is using their official position to steer lucrative contracts to a company owned by a relative. Rather than exposing this clear conflict of interest and potential corruption, the council member remains silent, perhaps hoping to gain favor with the influential colleague or to avoid a public scandal that could reflect poorly on the entire council. By failing to report the unethical conduct, the council member is conniving at their colleague's wrongdoing.

• A landlord might discover that one of their tenants is operating a small, unregistered business out of their apartment, which is a clear violation of the lease agreement and local zoning laws. If the landlord chooses to ignore this activity because the tenant always pays rent on time and they don't want the hassle of finding a new tenant, they are conniving. They are knowingly allowing the tenant to break the rules by overlooking the illicit business operation.