In legal contexts, deceit or fraud; a deliberate misrepresentation or deception intended to cause harm or gain advantage.
From Latin 'dolus' meaning deceit or guile, used in Roman law to describe intentional wrongdoing. The term was absorbed into English legal vocabulary through Latin legal terminology.
Legal Latin is basically a time capsule—words like 'dolus' (deceit) have been used in courtrooms for centuries without change, which means lawyers today are using the same terms Roman jurists used 2,000 years ago!
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