4 ms·
Who said it was ‘prosecutable’?
by eynsham 2y ago
Who said it was ‘prosecutable’?
- moralestapia 2y agoScarlet Johansson is threatening legal action against OpenAI for this. Are you not aware of this?
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Scarlet Johansson is threatening legal action against OpenAI for this Scarlet Johansson cannot prosecute anyone. She can sue them, in civil court, for civil damages. Prosecution is done in connection with crimes. Nobody is alleging any crimes here.
- moralestapia 2y agoprosecute: to officially accuse someone of committing an illegal act, and to bring a case against that person in a court of law Source: Cambridge's dictionary (but any other would work as well)
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> From Cambridge's (or any other) dictionary Where did you get this? I'm seeing "to officially accuse someone of committing a crime" [1]. Criminality is esssential to the term. (EDIT: Found it. Cambridge Academic Content dictionary. It seems to be a simplified text [2]. I'm surprised they summarised the legal definition that way versus going for the colloquial one.) You have to go back to the 18th century to find the term used to refer to initiating any legal action [3][4]. [1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prosecute https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/prosecut... [2] https://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/dictionaries/cambridge-academic-content-dictionary https://www.cambridge.org/us/cambridgeenglish/catalog/dictio... [3] https://verejnazaloba.cz/en/more-about-public-prosecution/history-of-public-prosecution/ https://verejnazaloba.cz/en/more-about-public-prosecution/hi... [4] https://www.etymonline.com/word/prosecute https://www.etymonline.com/word/prosecute
- selimthegrim 2y agoI think it’s still common informal usage to prosecute a (moral) case. Maybe more common in the UK where you can bring a literal private prosecution. Although I think what lawyers say these days is that it’s not colorable.
- amenhotep 2y agoWhy would that make it more common in the UK? Being able to bring a private prosecution strengthens the distinction, a regular citizen can both sue someone for a civil offense and prosecute someone for a criminal offense. It makes it more clearly nonsense to refer to suing someone for slandering you as "prosecuting" them because you can bring prosecutions and that is not one!
- selimthegrim 2y agoLike I said, a moral case. There are also things like “trial of the facts”
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> it’s still common informal usage to prosecute a (moral) case Sure, those are other definitions [1], e.g. to prosecute an argument. Within a legal context, however, it is black and white. > in the UK where you can bring a literal private prosecution For crimes. One wouldn't say one is prosecuting a defendant for e.g. libel. (Some states have private prosecution [2].) [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prosecute https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prosecute [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prosecution#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prosecution#United_Sta...
- selimthegrim 2y agoI didn’t know that about the states. Thanks.
- Gormo 2y agoThe third definition listed on your Merriam-Webster link seems to be what's applicable here, and very clearly describes the term as applicable to any legal action. This is consistent with my understanding of the term as a native English speaker, having experienced the term "prosecute" being used in reference to both criminal and civil cases in all forms of discourse, verbal and written, formal and informal, for decades, and only first encountering the claim that it shouldn't be used for civil cases here in this thread, today.
- johnbellone 2y agoGo away with the “well, actually”. It’s a civil dispute.
- Gormo 2y agoThe term "prosecution" applies to civil cases as well as criminal ones.
- chrisjj 2y ago> Scarlet Johansson is threatening legal action against OpenAI for this. Not true. SJ's statement seeks info and does not threaten legal action.