IMPUTE

impute (im-pyoot), vb. To ascribe or attribute; to regard (usu. something undesirable) as being done, caused, or possessed by <the court imputed malice to the defamatory statement>. — imputation,n. — imputable,adj.

“The word ‘impute’ comes from im (in) and putare (reckon). It means to bring into the reckoning, to attribute or to ascribe. It is sometimes used to attribute vicariously, — to ascribe as derived from another. This is included properly within the general import of the term but it is not its primary meaning. It may be used in many senses. Thus we may impute (ascribe) intent, knowledge, guilt, and so forth. Here it is used in the basic sense of imputing (ascribing) the fact itself. Harm has been done. Did the defendant do it? Usually such an inquiry is purely factual. What really happened? At times, however, when all the facts are known we have to ask: Will the law impute (attribute or ascribe) what happened to the defendant? That is what is meant here by ‘imputability.’ ” Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 605 (3d ed. 1982).

[Blacks Law 8th]