Definitions - All of them Flashcards
Conspiracy
- An agreement between two or more people to commit an offence.
- The agreement must be made before the commission of the acts which make up the full offence and the object of the conspiracy.
Omission
The agreement between the parties concerned may also have as its object an omission (failure to act) as opposed to the commission of an offence and as such this must not be overlooked.
Eg. A security guard deliberately fails to lock a door that he would normally secure (the omission), with the aim that his associates gain entry to commit a burglary (the offence).
Aids
To assist either physically or by giving advice and information. Does not need to be present. (lookout, give tools, advise when victim leaves)
Abets
- To instigate or encourage, to urge another person to commit the offence.
- Does not need to be present.
Incites
To rouse, stir up, stimulate, animate, urge or spur on another person to commit an offence.
Counsels
- To intentionally instigate, advising a person on how best to commit an offence, or planning the commission of an offence for another person.
- May also mean ‘urging someone to commit an offence’. In which case it will overlap with incitement.
Procures
- Setting out that something happens and taking the appropriate steps to ensure that it does happen.
- Strong connection to offence required.
Eg, the use of a hitman to kill someone.
Party to
- Person gaining assistance must be a party to the offence (primary or secondary offender).
- The offence must be complete for someone to be an accessory otherwise they are a party/conspirator.
Intent
There must be an intention:
- To commit the act, and
- To get a specific result
The act must be done deliberately
R v TAISALIKA and R v COLLISTER relate
Recklessness
Acting ‘recklessly’ involves the conscious and deliberate taking of an unjustified risk.
R v CAMERON and R v TIPPLE relates
Damages by fire
Although fire damage will often involve burning or charring; it is not necessary that the property is actually set alight.
Melting, blistering of paint or significant smoke may be sufficient.
R v ARCHER relates
Immovable property
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.
Property
Includes any real or personal property and any real estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity and any debt, and anything in action, and any other right or interest.
Knows or ought to know
Knowing or correctly believing
Life
In this context of human life, the danger must be to someone other than the defendant.
Claim of right
A belief at the time of the act you either owned or had a right to possess the property in question although that belief may be based on ignorance or mistake of fact or law.
Vehicle
A contrivance equipped with wheels, tracks, or revolving runners on which it moves or is moved.
Aircraft
Any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air or by the reactions of the air against the surface of the earth.
Ship
Vessel used in navigation, however propelled.
Obtain
Obtain or retain for himself, herself or any other person.
Benefit
Any benefit
- Property
- Service
- Pecuniary advantage
- Valuable consideration
Cause loss
It is not necessary that the victim’s loss results in any benefit to the offender
R v MORLEY relates
Person
- Someone other than the defendant
- As proven by circumstantial evidence or judical notice
GBH
Really serious harm
Wounds
Breaking of the skin evidenced by the flow of blood. May be internal or external.
R v WATERS relates
Maims
Deprive the victim of the use of a limb or of one of the senses.
Needs to be some degree of permanence.
Disfigures
To deform or deface; to alter the figure or appearance of a person.
Facilitate
Make possible or make easy/easier.
Imprisonable offence
Offence punishable by imprisonment
Stupefies
Induce a state of stupor to make stupid, groggy or insensible; to dull the senses or faculties.
R v STURM relates
Renders unconscious any person
To ‘render’ means to ‘causes to be’ or ‘cause to become’.
The offenders actions must cause the victim to lose consciousness.
By any violent means renders any person incapable of resistance
Is not limited to physical violence and may include threats of violence, depending on the circumstances.
Arms
Any firearm, airgun, pistol, restricted weapon, imitation firearm, or explosive (as per s2 arms act 1983), or any ammunition.
Curtilage
Is a legal term used to define the land immediately surrounding a house or dwelling, including any closely associated buildings and structures, but excluding any associated ‘open fields beyond’.
It defines the boundary within which a homeowner can have a reasonable expectation of privacy and where ‘common home activities’ take place.
Evidential material
Evidence of a offence or any other item, tangible or intangible, of relevance to the investigation of the offence.
Unlawfully at large
In relation to a person, means that the person:
- Has an arrest warrant in force (excluding fines warrants)
- Has escaped from prison or is absent without leave
- Has escaped from lawful custody, eg police cells, police car.
- Is a special patient or a restricted patient and has escaped or has failed to return from leave.
- Is a care recipient or special care recipient (with an intellectual disability) and has escaped or has failed to return from leave.
- Is a “young person” who is the subject of a youth court “supervision with residence” order and they are absconding from CYFS custody.
RGTS
Having a sound basis for believing a situation/circumstance is likely to exist
RGTB
Having a sound basis for believing that a situation/circumstance actually exists.
Injure
Cause actual bodily harm
Explosive
- substance/mixture/combination of substances which in its normal state is capable either of decomposition at such rapid rate as to result in an explosion or of producing a pyrotechnic effect.
- includes gunpowder, nitroglycerine, dynamite, gun-cotton, blasting powder, fulminate of mercury or of other metals, coloured flares, fog signals, fuses, rockets, percussion caps, detonators, cartridges, and ammunition of all descriptions.
- Does not include fireworks
Fire
A chemical reaction between fuel and oxygen, triggered by heat.
