The Law Dictionary

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DEGREE Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

In the law of descent and family relations. A step or grade, i. e., thedistance, or number of removes, which separates two persons who are related byconsanguinity. Thus we speak of cousins in the “second degree.”In criminal law. The term “degree” denotes a division or classification of one specificcrime into several grades or stadia of guilt, according to the circumstances attending itscommission. Thus, in some states, there may be “murder in the second degree.”

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