accessory after the fact

accessory after the fact

English

Alternative forms

• accessary after the fact

Noun

accessory after the fact (plural accessories after the fact)

1. (law) a person who assists someone who has committed a crime so as to protect them from legal prosecution
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book III:

     […] some of that atrocious wickedness in Jones, […] might perhaps be derived from the encouragement he had received from this fellow, who […] had been what the law calls an accessary^[sic] after the fact […]

Related terms

• accessory before the fact

Translations

person who assists someone who has committed a crime

Esperanto: postkomplico Hungarian: bűnpártoló, orgazda Spanish: cómplice encubridor m, encubridor m