Legal Definitions - mal

mal (mal), adj. [Law French “bad; wrong; against”] Bad; wrong. In Law French, mal was a separable word, equivalent to the Latin male (“badly”). In its modern uses, mal- is a prefix in terms such as maladministration and malpractice.

The term mal means bad or wrong. It was originally used in Law French as a separable word, which means it could be used on its own. In modern times, it is used as a prefix in words like maladministration and malpractice. These words describe situations where something has been done badly or wrongly.

• Malpractice: When a doctor does something wrong or harmful to a patient, it is called malpractice.
• Maladministration: When a government or organization does a bad job of managing something, it is called maladministration.

These examples illustrate how the prefix mal- is used to describe situations where something has been done badly or wrongly. In both cases, the prefix is added to a word that describes an action or process, to indicate that it has been done in a bad or wrong way.