Emendatio libelli (Amendment to the charge),
"To give the facts a different legal definition (changing the article of law), without modifying the description of the facts contained in the complaint or indictment". Ana Flávia Messa,
Example:
José leaves his car with a well-known local mechanic; when he goes to pick it up on the agreed date, he learns from a neighbor that the mechanic had traveled using the car, and his whereabouts were unknown.
José goes to the police station and reports the mechanic for the crime of Robbery (Article 157 of the Penal Code).
Art. 157 - To subtract another's movable property, for oneself or for another, by means of serious threat or violence to a person, or after having, by any means, reduced them to the impossibility of resistance:
During the trial, the Judge identifies that the robbery did not occur, but rather "Misappropriation" (Article 168 of the Penal Code).
Art. 168 - To misappropriate another's movable property, of which one has possession or custody:
In Emendatio libelli, the magistrate preserves the narration of the facts, but 'modifies' the type under which the crime was previously qualified.
