ignorantia juris non excusat

Latin for "ignorance of the law does not excuse," the legal principle that being ignorant of a law does not excuse a person from liability should they break it. The defendant claims that he made the payments without realizing they constituted embezzlement. The prosecution is expected to put forward an ignorantia juris non excusat argument in response. I know you didn't think you were doing anything seriously wrong, but that defense won't hold up in court. "Ignorantia juris non excusat," as the law textbooks say. My defendant thinks he'll avoid jail time because he was oblivious to the laws he was breaking, but I know the prosecutor will attack the issue of ignorantia juris non excusat.