abettal
n.n. the act of helping someone to commit a crime. It is an old word that you will rarely see in modern books.
n. the act of aiding or encouraging another person to commit a crime. Archaic in modern legal contexts; often replaced by 'abettor' or 'aiding and abetting'.
The court found evidence of abettal in the case.
Historical legal texts often describe the abettal of a crime as a separate offense from the crime itself.
While the primary defendant was responsible for the physical act, the abettal of the conspiracy was sufficient to secure a conviction for the secondary party.
From abet + -al.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 18, 2026