Generally, this term denotes the x>erson who actually commits a crime or delict, or by whose immediate agency it occurs. But, where a servant of a rail- road company is killed through the negligence of a co-employe, the company itself may be regarded as the ” perpetrator ” of the act, within the meaning of a statute giving an action against the perpetrator. Philo v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 33 Iowa, 47. Perpetua lex est nullam legem huma- ii am ac positivam perpetuam esse, et clausula quae abrogationem excludit ab initio non valet. It is a perpetual law that no human and positive law can be perpetual, and a clause [in a law] which precludes the power of abrogation is void 06 initio. Bac. Max. p. 77, in reg. 19.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
