Definitions

Question 1

Benefit

Answer 1

any benefit, pecuniary advantage, privilege, property, service or valuable consideration

Question 2

Intent

Answer 2

In a criminal law context there are two specific types of intent in an offence. Firstly there must be an intention to commit the act and secondly, an intention to get a specific result

Question 3

Circumstantial evidence from which an offenders intent can be inferred can include

Answer 3

the offenders actions and words before, during and after the event

the surrounding circumstances

the nature of the act itself

Question 4

Recklessness

Answer 4

Acting recklessly involves consciously ad deliberately taking an unjustifiable risk

Question 5

Damage by fire or explosion

Answer 5

Although fire damage will often involve burning or charring, it is not necessary that the property is actually st alight; melting, blistering of paint or significant smoke damage may be sufficient

Question 6

Proving recklessness

Answer 6

That the defendant consciously and deliberatly ran a risk

that the risk was on that was unreasonable in the circumstances as they were known to the defendant

Question 7

Fire

Answer 7

Is the process of combustion which is a chemical reaction between fuel and oxygen and is triggered by heat

Question 8

Explosive

Answer 8

Means any substance or mixture or combination of substances which in its normal state is capable either of decomposition at such a rapid rate as to result in an explosion or pyrotechnic effect

Question 9

Property

Answer 9

Includes and real or personal property, and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity, and any debt and anything in action and any other right or interest

Question 10

Knows or ought to know

Answer 10

Simester and Brookbank

Knowing means knowing or correctly believe. The defendant may believe something wrongly but cannot know something that is false.

Question 11

Danger to life

Answer 11

in this context means danger to human life and the danger must be to the life of someone else other then the defendant

Question 12

Without claim of right

Answer 12

In relation to any act means a belief at the time of the act in a proprietary or possessory right in property in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed, although that belief may be based on ignorance or mistake of fact or of any matter of law other then the enactment against which the offence is alleged to have been committed

Question 13

Immovable property

Answer 13

Property will be considered immovable if it is currently fixed in place and unable to be moved, even though it may be possible to make it movable

Question 14

Vehicle

Answer 14

Means a contrivance equipped with wheels, tracks or revolving runners on which it is moves or is moved.

Question 15

Ship

Answer 15

means every discretion of vessel used in navigation, however propelled

and includes any barge, dinghy, raft or like vessel

Question 16

Aircraft

Answer 16

Any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air otherwise than by the reactions of the air against the surface of the earth

Question 17

Interest

Answer 17

Interest is not defined by statute but it is held that tenancy of a property constitutes an interest in it.

Question 18

Obtain

Answer 18

in relation to any person means to obtain or retain for himself or herself or for any other person

Question 19

Legally you are allowed to set fire to your own property unless…

Answer 19

you intent to cause loss to someone else as a result of the fire

know or ought to know that the fire will endanger life

know that the fire is likely to destroy or damage someone else’s property as a consequence