Malice
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Malice is a legal term referring to a party's intention to do injury to another party. Malice is either expressed or implied. Express malice occurs when a party only gives notice of the intention to commit a crime. Implied malice occurs when, in the course of nefarious or unlawful doings, a party causes the death of another party or does harm to another. Malice, in a legal sense, may be inferred from various evidence, depending on the nature of the case.
In many kinds of cases, malice must be found to exist in order to convict (for example malice is an element of the crime of Murder in many jusrisdictions). In other kinds of cases, a finding of malice allows for greater damages, or for punitive damages. The legal concept of malice is most common in Anglo-american law, and in legal systems derived from the English common law system.
See also Evil.
Malice is also the title of a 1993 film written by Aaron Sorkin starring Nicole Kidman, Alec Baldwin, and Bill Pullman.