Mistake of Law - Legal Error

The Mistake of law is a very dangerous error in the application of the law. Since, the Mistake of law occurs while making decisions in a legal or ethical matter, it has been deemed as the most serious legal error by the American Bar Association. In addition, this type of error can lead to a grave punishment as determined by law.

A Mistake of law occurs when the Lawyer makes an assumption or an action that he believes would be true. However, it turns out to be false. Thus, the Lawyer was negligent and the error was a mistake. The Mistake of law is intentional and it is a crime which is a felony in every state of America.

The Mistake of law is categorized into two types, one is the Mere Error and the other is the Fault Error. In the Mere Error, the Mistake of law is the result of a simple mistake. This mistake can occur due to human error or the lack of sufficient information on the subject. In such cases, the mistakes are not willful. The Mere Errors is the result of carelessness or lack of consciousness in handling the legal matters and hence the result of the Mistake of law is less severe.

The Mistake of law is very common in criminal justice lawyers. But when the Mistake of law happens in civil law, it is different. Mistakes in civil law can be worse than in criminal justice legal practices because the result of the Mistake of law can cause disaster to the person who committed the Mistake of law.

Mistakes in civil law refer to false accusations and allegations against the individual. These accusations or allegations can also be false statements made by the defendant in order to wrongfully collect the compensation for injuries or other losses. Another form of Mistake of law occurs when the wrongfully accused do not accept the judgment and move to dismiss the case against them. In such situations, the wrongfully accused can opt for dismissal. The Wrongful accused has the right to dismiss the case as per the rules of law. For this purpose, the claimant can request the court to be exempted from prosecution under certain circumstances.

The acts of the plaintiff include refusal to prosecute a case that has a bad intention or mala fide purpose. For example, if the plaintiff was framed by the defendant, then the plaintiff should not be prosecuted. Likewise, if the plaintiff has decided to file a False Claim against the defendant, the plaintiff should not be prosecuted.

In addition, the wrongful accusation of the defendant for any reason is also considered as Mistake of law. False accusation of a person can be charged as a crime, if there is sufficient evidence to prove that the accusation is baseless. For instance, the wrongful accusations that the defendant is involved in terrorist activities are a crime if the evidence supports it.