Criminal Law Flashcards
Actus Reus
Guilty act; An act, omission or state of affairs that is prohibited
Mens Rea
Guilty mind; the mental or fault element of a crime
Conduct crimes
Offences where act itself is prohibited EG. DUI
Consequence crimes
Must have a consequence alongside original action in order for a crime to have been committed
State of affairs
An act of being Eg R v Larsonner (1993)
6 omissions
Statutory Duty (Airedale Trust v Bland), Contractual Duty (R v Pitwood), Relationship (R v Gibbins & Procter), Voluntary Duty (R v Stone & Dobbinson), Official Position (R v Dytham) and D caused events.
Factual cause
D can only be guilty if the consequence wouldn’t have happened ‘But for’ D’s conduct (R v Pagett)
Legal cause
D’s conduct need not be the substantial cause (R v Kimsey)
Thin-skull rule
D must take V as they find them despite any illness that could have enhanced injuries (R v Blaue)
Intervening acts
Must be directly linked to D’s conduct, sometimes something else happens after D’s conduct that furthers the act (R v Smith and R v Cheshire)
Medical treatment
Sufficiently independent acts will break chain of causation (R v Jordan)
Victims own acts
D causes V to react in a foreseeable way then any injury to V will be considered to have been caused by D (R v Malcherek and R v Kennedy)
No MR fault in these circumstances
Children under 10, involuntary acts, lack of required MR and legally recognised defence
Direct intent
When someone has the intention to use unlawful force on another
Foresight of consequences
When D’s main aim was not prohibited consequence but in achieving the aim they realised or foresaw that they would cause those consequences