​PENALTY (Lat. poena, punishment), in its original meaning, a punishment inflicted for some violation of the law or rule of conduct. Although still freely used in its original sense in such phrases, for example, as “the death penalty,” “the penalty of rashness,” &c, the more usual meaning attached to the word is that of a pecuniary mulct. Penalty is used specifically for a sum of money recovered by virtue of a penal statute, or recoverable in a court of summary jurisdiction for infringement of a statute. A sum of money agreed upon to be paid in case of non performance of a condition in a bond or in breach of a contract or any stipulation of it IS also termed a penalty (see Damages).