RECIDIVE

1 definition found

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

  RECIDIVE, French law. The state of an individual who commits a crime or 
  misdemeanor, after having once been condemned for a crime or misdemeanor; a 
  relapse. 
       2. Many states provide, that for a second offence, the punishment shall 
  be increased in those cases the indictment should set forth the crime or 
  misdemeanor as a second offence. 


       3. The second offence must have been committed after tho conviction for 
  the first; a defendant could not be convicted of a second offence, as such, 
  until after he had suffered a punishment for the first. Dall. Diet. h.t.