impute

impute

v. 1) to attach to a person responsibility (and therefore financial liability) for acts or injuries to another, because of a particular relationship, such as mother to child, guardian to ward, employer to employee, or business associates. Example: a 16-year-old boy drives his father's car without a license and runs someone down. The child's negligence may be imputed to the parent, or, in the reverse, a mother drives her car and collides with a truck driven over the speed limit, and her baby in the front seat of the car is badly injured, in part due to not being put in a safety seat with a seat belt. The mother's negligence can be imputed to the child in any claim on behalf of the child against the truck driver. 2) to attribute knowledge and/or notice to a person only because of his/her relationship to the one actually possessing the information. Example: if a partner in a business is informed of something, that knowledge is imputed to his/her partner, and the partner is expected to have the information also. (See: vicarious liability)

impute

verb adsignare, apply, ascribe, ascribere, assign, attach, attribuere, attribute, attribute vicariously, blame, charge to, charge upon, credit, fix the burden of, fix the responsibility for, fix upon, place the blame on, place the responsibility for, put
Associated concepts: imputed consent, imputed guilt, immuted intent, imputed knowledge, imputed liability, immuted negligence, imputed notice

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See also: accuse, ascribe, attribute, charge, cite, complain, denounce, fault, implicate, present