criminal law

noun

: the law of crimes and their punishments

Examples of criminal law in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The bulletin advises that California law enforcement agencies have primary authority to investigate potential violations of state criminal law and are not required to defer to federal authorities. —Sydney Barragan, Oc Register, 28 Jan. 2026

Occasionally, criminal law can be used to prosecute sports agents for actions taken in their recruitment of college athletes, though criminal law is not always a good fit. —Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 22 Jan. 2026

The Star-Telegram spoke with Jenny Carroll, a professor of law and criminal law expert at Texas A&M University, to help explain what schools are required to do and where ICE’s authority stops. —Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Jan. 2026

In On Criminal Restitution Restitution is one of the easiest ideas in criminal law to support. —Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1672, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for criminal law

• avoirdupois
• aa
• aha
• bashaw
• bradshaw
• byelaw
• bylaw
• chainsaw
• cheraw
• coleslaw
• crenshaw
• dada

Legal Definition

criminal law

noun

: public law that deals with crimes and their prosecution compare civil law

Note: Substantive criminal law defines crimes, and procedural criminal law sets down criminal procedure. Substantive criminal law was originally common law for the most part. It was later codified and is now found in federal and state statutory law.