Embracery

/ɪmˈbreɪsəri/ noun

Definition

A legal offense in which someone attempts to influence or tamper with a jury through unlawful agreement or communication.

Etymology

From embrace (as a verb meaning to unlawfully influence) + -ery (Old French -erie, a suffix for practices or behaviors). The crime itself is from embrace in its legal sense, which developed in medieval English law.

Kelly Says

Embracery is a word that changed meaning completely—it started as just 'hugging' but in law courts it became a specific crime meaning jury tampering. It shows how specialized fields keep old words alive with entirely new definitions!

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