Penal

3 definitions found

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

  Penal \Pe"nal\, a. [L. poenalis, fr. poena punishment: cf. F.
     p['e]nal. See {Pain}.]
     Of or pertaining to punishment, to penalties, or to crimes
     and offenses; pertaining to criminal jurisprudence: as:
     (a) Enacting or threatening punishment; as, a penal statue;
         the penal code.


     (b) Incurring punishment; subject to a penalty; as, a penal
         act or offense.
     (c) Inflicted as punishment; used as a means of punishment;
         as, a penal colony or settlement. "Adamantine chains and
         penal fire." --Milton.
         [1913 Webster]
  
     {Penal code} (Law), a code of laws concerning crimes and
        offenses and their punishment.
  
     {Penal laws}, {Penal statutes} (Law), laws prohibiting
        certain acts, and imposing penalties for committing them.
        
  
     {Penal servitude}, imprisonment with hard labor, in a prison,
        in lieu of transportation. [Great Brit.]
  
     {Penal suit}, {Penal action} (Law), a suit for penalties.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  penal
       adj 1: of or relating to punishment; "penal reform"; "penal code"
       2: serving as or designed to impose punishment; "penal
          servitude"; "a penal colony"
       3: subject to punishment by law; "a penal offense" [syn: {punishable}]

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

  PENAL. That which may be punished; that which inflicts a punishment.