malice in fact

malice in fact (uncountable)

1. (law) Provable intent to commit a crime or otherwise do harm.
   • 1845 January, Peter Vivian Daniel, “White v. Nicholls et al.”, in Benjamin C. Howard, editor, United States Reports‎, volume 44, Philadelphia: T & J. W. Johnson, page 281:

     But falsehood and want of probable cause are in themselves evidence of malice in fact.

   • 1888 June 6, William Vernon Harcourt, parliamentary debates (House of Commons):

     A private individual very often made a statement out of malice, but a newspaper very often published these matters not for malice in fact, but because it answered their purpose to do so […]

• malice in law