Case Law Flashcards

Question

R v Cox

Answer 1

Possession Possession involves two… elements. The first, often called the physical element, is actual or potential physical custody or control. The second, often described as the mental element… is a combination of knowledge and intention: knowledge in the sense of an awareness by the accused that the substance is in his possession… and an intention to exercise possession

Answer 2

Document “Essentially a document is a thing which provides evidence or information or serves as a record.”

Answer 3

Guilty knowledge knowing means “knowing or correctly believing”. The defendant may believe something wrongly, but cannot ‘know’ something that is false”.

Answer 4

Uses a document (attempts) “An unsuccessful use of a document is as much use as a successful one. An unsuccessful use must not be equated conceptually with an attempted one. The concept of attempt relates to use not to the ultimate obtaining of a pecuniary advantage, which is not a necessary ingredient of the offence. Because the use does not have to be successful it may be difficult to draw a clear line between use and attempted use.”

Answer 5

Service A pecuniary advantage is “anything that enhances the accused’s financial position. It is that enhancement which constitutes the element of advantage”

Answer 6

Valuable consideration A valuable consideration is “anything capable of being valuable consideration, whether of a monetary kind or of any other kind; in short, money or money’s worth”.

Answer 7

Robbery complete Robbery is complete the instant the property is taken, even if possession by the thief is only momentary.

Answer 8

Claim of right – Defence to robbery Defence to theft (claim of right) is a defence to Robbery

Answer 9

Robbery complete The immediate return of goods by the robber does not purge the offence

Answer 10

Robbery nexus “It is implicit in ‘accompany’ that there must be a nexus (connection or link) between the act of stealing ... and a threat of violence. Both must be present.” However the term “does not require that the act of stealing and the threat of violence be contemporaneous ...”

Answer 11

Violence – Robbery It is sufficient that “the actions of the defendant forcibly interfere with personal freedom or amount to forcible powerful or violent action or motion producing a very marked or powerful effect tending to cause bodily injury or discomfort”.

Answer 12

Threat of violence - Robbery A threat of violence is “the manifestation of an intention to inflict violence unless the money or property be handed over. The threat may be direct or veiled. It may be conveyed by words or conduct, or a combination of both.”

Answer 13

Threat of violence - Robbery The actual presence or absence of fear on the part of the complainant is not the yardstick. It is the conduct of the accused which has to be assessed rather than ‘the strength of the nerves of the person threatened’

Answer 14

To any person - Robbery There is no requirement that the harm be inflicted on the victim of the robbery, thus infliction of harm to a person seeking to prevent the escape of the offender would come within the section.

Answer 15

Together with – Robbery “The Crown must establish that at least two persons were physically present at the time the robbery was committed or the assault occurred.”

Answer 16

Together with – Robbery “Being together” in the context of section 235(b) involves “two or more persons having the common intention to use their combined force, either in any event or as circumstances might require, directly in the perpetration of the crime.

Answer 17

Armed with – Offensive weapon “What is possessed must under the definition be a thing. A person’s hand or fingers are not a thing.

Answer 18

Intent to deceive – Deception An intention to deceive requires that the deception is practiced in order to deceive the affected party. Purposeful intent is necessary and must exist at the time of the deception

Answer 19

Debt or liability The debt or liability must be legally enforceable. This means that if the contract is void or illegal there will be no offence

Answer 20

thing capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage the ‘thing’ must be tangible and must be capable of being used to derive a pecuniary advantage.

Answer 21

Cause loss “the loss alleged by the victim must have been induced by, or caused in reliance, upon the deception. But the deception need not be the only operative factor, so long as it played a material part in occasioning the loss.”

Answer 22

Damage to property Property may be damaged if it suffers permanent or temporary physical harm or permanent or temporary impairment of its use or value.

Answer 23

Interest in property | Tenancy of a property constitutes an interest in it.

Answer 24

Imports (drug dealing) To import includes “to introduce or bring in from abroad or to cause to be brought in from a foreign country”.

Answer 25

Imports (drug dealing) “Importation“ involves active conduct. It does not cease as the aircraft or vessel enters New Zealand territorial limits. The process of importation exists from the time the goods enter New Zealand until they reach their immediate destination or have ceased to be under the control of the appropriate authorities and have become available to the consignee or addressee”.

Answer 26

Guilty Knowledge It is not necessary for the Crown to establish knowledge on the part of the accused. In the absence of evidence to the contrary knowledge on her part will be presumed, but if there is some evidence that the accused honestly believed on reasonable grounds that her act was innocent, then she is entitled to be acquitted unless the jury is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was not so.

Answer 27

Usable Quantity (drug dealing) “…the serious offence of … possessing a narcotic does not extend to some minute and useless residue of the substance.”

Answer 28

Produce/Manufacture (drug dealing) The words “produce” or “manufacture” in s 6(1)(b) broadly cover the creation of controlled drugs by some form of process which changes the original substances into a particular controlled drug.

Answer 29

Supply (drug dealing) Supply includes the distribution of jointly owned property between its co-owners.

Answer 30

Intent to supply (drug dealing) “a person who is in unlawful possession of a controlled drug, which has been deposited for safekeeping, has the intent to supply that drug to another if his intention is to return the drug to the person who deposited it with him”.

Answer 31

Intent to supply (drug dealing) a “passive custodian” who relinquishes custody of a drug to meet the needs of another, has the necessary intent for supply.

Answer 32

Offer to supply (drug dealing) “[An offer is] an intimation by the person charged to another that he is ready on request to supply to that other, drugs of a kind prohibited by the statute.”

Answer 33

Offer to supply (drug dealing) offering to supply a controlled drug can arise in a variety of ways including where the defendant: • offers to supply a drug that he has on hand • offers to supply a drug that will be procured at some future date • offers to supply a drug that he mistakenly believes he can supply • offers to supply a drug deceitfully, knowing he will not supply that drug.

Answer 34

Attempts In assessing the conduct there must be a full evaluation in terms of time place and circumstances. What remains to be done is always relevant but not determinative. The court is permitted to focus more on the quality of the defendants acts & the time place and circumstances in which they occurred & less on abstract tests of preparation and proximity

Answer 35

An offence where no violence is contemplated and the principal offender in carrying out the common aim uses violence, a secondary offender taking no physical part in it would not be held liable for the violence used.