Los Angeles Criminal Defense Firm

De Minimis

De minimis means too insignificant to merit attention. Conduct could be considered de minimis when its degree of wrongfulness is too minimal to justify a criminal conviction—a trivial violation of a rule. For example, courts have dismissed cases when an object of a theft is of extremely low value (e.g. a few pieces of gum or some fruit from a buffet table). De minimis comes from the Latin phrase: de minimis no cuat lex (“The law does not concern itself with trifles.”).