Law Dictionary of Legal Terminology

RECIDIVE

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 mis-dmeanor 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.