11. Ignorance and Mistake of Law: Exculpatory?

Question 1

Ignorance of the law is…

Answer 1

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, everyone presumed to know law

• Ignorance as to existence, scope or meaning of criminal law is not a defense
• Would destroy the authoritative source of law, destroy the educative function of law, the source/meaning of criminal law would be everyone’s own

Question 2

State v. Fox

Answer 2

• Statute:
  1) possess
  2) controlled substance
  3) without valid prescription
• He possessed ephedrine without valid prescription, didn’t know it’s controlled = mistake of criminal law  Ignorance of the law is not an excuse
• Dissent worried about people who possess small amounts, get arrested (asthmatic traveler)

Question 3

Hopkins

Answer 3

• Specialized in marriages, legislature made it unlawful to make signs to solicit performing marriages
• Consulted an attorney about signs to see if he could put them up, attorney said it would be ok, indicted for violating the sign rule
• Court said cannot be excused because of misconstrued or misapplied law

Question 4

Striggles

Answer 4

• Municipal court held that particular machine was not a gambling device, company then went to Striggles who owned a restaurant and got him to buy the machine
• SC then held that it was a gambling device and Striggles was convicted for allowing gambling on his premises

Question 5

Lambert

Answer 5

(defense of ignorance of law)

• 1. Be or remain
     
     2. In LA
     3. For more than 5 days
     4. Without registering with police
• She was unaware of registration requirement
• SC said actual knowledge was necessary before conviction
• Nothing in the circumstances that would alert her to this crime, based on an omission, once given an opportunity didn’t get a chance to fix it, not a moral wrong, status crime

Question 6

MPC – mistake of criminal law exception

Answer 6

• A belief that conduct does not legally constitute an offense is a defense if
  o Statute defining offense is not known and has not been published or made available prior to conduct
  o He acts in reasonable reliance on official statement of law later determined to be erroneous contained in (1) a statute or other enactment, (2) a judicial decision opinion or judgment (3) an administrative order or grant of permission (4) an official interpretation of the public officer or body charged by law with responsibility for the interpretation, administration or enforcement

Question 7

Mistake of non-governing law

Answer 7

• Claiming he was mistaken about one of the material elements of the crime (factual aspects and legal aspects of the elements)
• Specific intent – is a defense if it negates specific intent (ex: mistake of ownership of property was a defense to larceny)
• General intent – often not a defense
• MPC treats this like mistake of fact, let it be a defense if negates mens rea