In law, an absolute defence, or defense, is a factual circumstance or argument that, if proven, will end the litigation in favour of the defendant. The concept is not rigid, and statutes often use the term merely as a synonym for full or complete. As a term of art in criminal and civil law it refers to an underlying set of facts and laws, not raised by the complaint or indictment, that will require the defendant's dismissal even if the factual allegations of the complaint are true. When it is pleaded and proven it is not subject to mitigation or collateral attack. Examples include the truth of an allegedly libelous statement in modern defamation, self-defence in a battery case, and immunities such as sovereign immunity. Double jeopardy is more likely to be called absolute, whereas innocence is not generally so termed because it involves a material fact of the pleading. An absolute or complete defence must be distinguished from a partial defence, such as diminished capacity, which aims only to mitigate the outcome.
Facts
Classification
Doctrine Category Connections
In Area Of Law
Entity-backed identity for the doctrine category value this doctrine already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a doctrine entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Absolute defence
a factual circumstance or argument that, if proven, will end the litigation in favor of the defendant; used as a term of art in both criminal and civil lawView the Source Absolute defence (Wikipedia)
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