Generally, this term denotes the person who actually commits a crime or delict, or by whose immediate agen-cy it occurs. But, where a servant of a railroad company is killed through the negligence of a co-employe, the company itself may be regarded as the “perpetrator” of the act, within the meaning of a statute giving an action against the perpetrator. Philo v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 33 Iowa, 47
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
