modus operandi
Meaning. The method of operating; the characteristic way in which a person commits a crime or does something.
Modus operandi means the particular way a person habitually does something, most often the method used to commit offences. Police record the modus operandi of habitual offenders to link them with new crimes.
In evidence, a distinctive modus operandi may be relevant to identity, as where several burglaries are committed in the same unusual manner. Courts are cautious with it, because similarity of method alone, without other evidence, is a weak basis for conviction. In civil and commercial contexts the phrase simply means the working method of a business or scheme.
Example
The modus operandi in all three cases was the same: the accused posed as a bank official and asked for the OTP over the phone.
See also
circumstantial evidence · relevant fact
Read more in the study notes
- Legal protection of computer programmes in the US, Europe and India: copyright, patents and the IT Act (Law of Intellectual Property and Information Technology)