In criminal law, animus nocendi ("intention to harm"[1]) refers to an accused's guilty state of mind with respect to the actus reus of the crime.
The term dates back to Roman understandings of censorship, where it referred to an author's impermissible intention in writing a literary work.
Blackstone describes the doctrine as follows:The law therefore extends … possession farther than the mere manual occupation; for my tame hawk that is pursuing his quarry in my presence, though he is at liberty to go where he pleases, is nevertheless my property; for he hath animum revertendi.
[10] In the jurisprudence of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, animus ("intent") designates an improper government purpose in passing legislation.
[11] The Supreme Court of the United States defined the concept for the first time in Department of Agriculture v. Moreno (1973),[12] holding that (italics in original):… if the constitutional conception of "equal protection of the laws" means anything, it must at the very least mean that a bare congressional desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest.