Simple English definitions for legal terms
Read a random definition: magisterial district
Term: MAL
Definition: Mal means bad or wrong. It comes from a French word that means "badly". Nowadays, we use it as a prefix in words like maladministration and malpractice.
mal (mal), adj. [Law French “bad; wrong; against”] Bad; wrong. In Law French, mal was a separable word, equivalent to the Latin male (“badly”). In its modern uses, mal- is a prefix in terms such as maladministration and malpractice.
The term mal means bad or wrong. It was originally used in Law French as a separable word, which means it could be used on its own. In modern times, it is used as a prefix in words like maladministration and malpractice. These words describe situations where something has been done badly or wrongly.
These examples illustrate how the prefix mal- is used to describe situations where something has been done badly or wrongly. In both cases, the prefix is added to a word that describes an action or process, to indicate that it has been done in a bad or wrong way.