Legal Definitions - defective

The term defective refers to something that is not able to perform its intended function due to an error or flaw. In legal contexts, the term can be used in various ways:

In products liability cases, a product is considered defective if it is not reasonably fit, suitable, and safe for its intended or foreseeable purposes. For example, a car with faulty brakes that fail to stop the vehicle is defective.

Under strict liability, a thing is defective if it is unreasonably dangerous, meaning that it is more dangerous than an ordinary person would expect. For instance, a toy that poses a choking hazard to young children is defective.

A charging document, such as a criminal complaint, is defective if it omits a vital element that identifies the crime. However, not all facts surrounding an offense are vital elements. For example, a complaint charging theft must allege that the defendant took property belonging to another person without permission.

An indictment is defective and subject to dismissal if it alleges a violation of an unconstitutional statute. For instance, if a state passes a law that violates the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, an indictment based on that law would be defective.

These examples illustrate how the term defective is used in different legal contexts to describe something that is unable to fulfill its intended purpose due to an error or flaw.