Conspiracy

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Conspiracy \Con*spir"a*cy\, n.; pl. {Conspiracies}. [See
     {Conspiration}.]
     1. A combination of people for an evil purpose; an agreement,
        between two or more persons, to commit a crime in concert,
        as treason; a plot.
        [1913 Webster]


  
              When shapen was all his conspiracy
              From point to point.                  --Chaucer.
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              They made a conspiracy against [Amaziah]. --2 Kings
                                                    xiv. 19.
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              I had forgot that foul conspiracy
  
              Of the beast Caliban and his confederates. --Shak.
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     2. A concurence or general tendency, as of circumstances, to
        one event, as if by agreement.
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              A conspiracy in all heavenly and earthly things.
                                                    --Sir P.
                                                    Sidney.
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     3. (Law) An agreement, manifesting itself in words or deeds,
        by which two or more persons confederate to do an unlawful
        act, or to use unlawful to do an act which is lawful;
        confederacy.
  
     Syn: Combination; plot; cabal.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  conspiracy
       n 1: a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an
            unlawful act [syn: {confederacy}]
       2: a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially
          a political plot) [syn: {cabal}]
       3: a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some
          harmful or illegal purpose [syn: {confederacy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  170 Moby Thesaurus words for "conspiracy":
     Anschluss, accompaniment, accordance, addition, affiliation,
     agglomeration, aggregation, agreement, alliance, amalgamation, art,
     artful dodge, artifice, assimilation, association, blend, blending,
     blind, cabal, cahoots, cartel, centralization, chicane, chicanery,
     co-working, coaction, coalescence, coalition, coincidence,
     collaboration, collectivity, collusion, combination, combine,
     combined effort, combo, complicity, complot, composition, concert,
     concerted action, concomitance, concordance, concourse,
     concurrence, confederacy, confederation, confluence, congeries,
     conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, conn, connivance,
     connivery, consilience, consolidation, contrivance, contriving,
     cooperation, correspondence, counterplot, coup, covin, craft,
     cute trick, deceit, deep-laid plot, design, device, dirty work,
     disloyalty, dodge, dodgery, ecumenism, embodiment, encompassment,
     engineering, enosis, expedient, faithlessness, fakement, falsity,
     federalization, federation, feint, fetch, finagling, finesse,
     foul play, frame-up, fusion, gambit, game, gimmick, grift, hookup,
     inclusion, incorporation, integration, intrigue, jugglery,
     junction, junta, knavery, league, little game, machination,
     maneuver, maneuvering, manipulation, marriage, meld, melding,
     merger, move, package, package deal, parasitism, perfidiousness,
     perfidy, pettifoggery, pettifogging, plot, plotting, ploy,
     practice, racket, red herring, rigging, ruse, saprophytism, scheme,
     schemery, scheming, sedition, sharp practice, shift, simultaneity,
     skulduggery, sleight, solidification, stratagem, strategy,
     subterfuge, supercherie, symbiosis, synchronism, syncretism,
     syndication, syneresis, synergy, synthesis, tactic, tie-up,
     treacherousness, treachery, treason, trick, trickery,
     underhand dealing, underplot, unification, union, united action,
     web of intrigue, wedding, wile, wily device, wire-pulling
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONSPIRACY, crim. law, torts. An agreement between two or more persons to do 
  an unlawful act, or an act which may become by the combination injurious to 
  others. Formerly this offence was much more circumscribed in its meaning 
  than it is now. Lord Coke describes it as "a consultation or agreement 
  between two or more to appeal or indict an innocent person falsely and 
  maliciously, whom accordingly they cause to be indicted or appealed and 
  afterwards the party is acquitted by the verdict of twelve men." 
       2. The crime of conspiracy, according to its modern interpretation, may 
  be of two kinds, Damely, conspiracies against the public, or such as 
  endanger the public health, violate public morals, insult public justice, 
  destroy the public peace, or affect public trade or business. See 3 Burr. 
  1321. 
       3. To remedy these evils the guilty persons may be indicted in the name 
  of the commonwealth. Conspiracies against individuals are such as have a 
  tendency to injure them in their persons, reputation, or property. The 
  remedy in these cases is either by indictment or by a civil action. 
       4. In order to reader the offence complete, there is no occasion that 
  any act should be done in pursuance of the unlawful agreement entered into 
  between the parties, or that any one should have been defrauded or injured 
  by it. The conspiracy is the gist of the crane. 2 Mass. R. 337; Id. 538 6 
  Mass. R. 74; 3 S. & R. 220 4 Wend. R. 259; Halst. R. 293 2 Stew. Rep. 360; 5 
  Harr. & John. 317 8 S. & R. 420. But see 10 Verm. 353. 
       5. By the laws of the United State's, St. 1825, c. 76, Sec. 23, 3 
  Story's L. U. S., 2006, a willful and corrupt conspiracy to cast away, burn 
  or otherwise destroy any ship or vessel. with intent to injure any 
  underwriter thereon, or the goods on board thereof, or any lender of money 
  on such vessel, on bottomry or respondentia, is, by the laws of the United 
  States, made felony, and the offender punishable by fine not exceeding ten 
  thousand dollars, and by imprisonment and confinement at hard labor, not 
  exceeding ten years. 
       6. By the Revised Statutes of New York, vol. 2, p. 691, 692, it is 
  enacted, that if any two or more persons shall conspire, either, 1. To 
  commit any offence; or, 2. Falsely and maliciously to indict another for any 
  offence; or, 3. Falsely to move or maintain any suit; or, 4. To cheat and 
  defraud any person of any property, by any means which are in themselves 
  criminal; or, 5. To cheat and defraud any person of any property, by means 
  which, if executed, would amount to a cheat, or to obtaining property by 
  false pretences; or, 6. To commit any act injurious to the public health, to 
  public morals, or to trade and commerce, or for the perversion or 
  obstruction of justice, or the due administration of the laws; they shall be 
  deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. No other conspiracies are there punishable 
  criminally. And no agreement, except to commit a felony upon the person of 
  another, or to commit arson or burglary, shall be deemed a conspiracy, 
  unless some act besides such agreement be done to effect the object thereof, 
  by one or more of the parties to such agreement. 
       7. When a felony has been committed in pursuance of a conspiracy, the 
  latter, which is only a misdemeanor, is merged in the former; but when a 
  misdemeanor only has been committed in pursuance of such conspiracy, the two 
  crimes being of equal degree, there can be no legal technical merger. 4 
  Wend. R. 265. Vide 1 Hawk. 444 to 454; 3 Chit. Cr. Law, 1138 to 1193 3 Inst. 
  143 Com. Dig. Justices of the Peace, B 107; Burn's Justice, Conspiracy; 
  Williams' Justice, Conspiracy; 4 Chit. Blacks. 92; Dick. Justice Conspiracy, 
  Bac. Ab. Actions on the Case, G 2 Russ. on Cr. 553 to 574 2 Mass. 329 Id. 
  536 5 Mass. 106 2 D R. 205; Whart. Dig. Conspiracy; 3 Serg. & Rawle, 220; 7 
  Serg. & Rawle, 469 4 Halst. R. 293; 5 Harr. & Johns. 317 4 Wend. 229; 2 
  Stew. R. 360;1 Saund. 230, u. 4. For the French law, see Merl. Rep. mot 
  Conspiration Code Penal, art. 89.