Evolution Of The Offence Flashcards
What is meant by the standard of proof ‘beyond reasonable doubt’?
The prosecution is required to prove that no other logical explanation can be derived from the facts except that the defendant committed the offence.
What is required for possession?
- Actual or potential physical control of the object
- Knowledge of the object, and an intent to exercise control over it.
R v Betts & Riddley
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.
Three types of “Parties”
Incites - Encouragement given by words or conduct
Counsels - “counsel” is to advise or recommend
Procures - A person “procures” another to commit an offence by deliberately causing that person to commit the offence. “To procure means to produce by endeavour
Elements to Accessory after the fact
Enable the offender to “Escape after arrest, avoid arrest, avoid conviction”
Attempts - Function of Judge and Jury
The Judge must decide wheather the accused had left the preparation stage and was already trying to effect the completion of the full offence.
The Jury must decide whether:
1. The facts proved beyond a reasonable doubt and, if so.
- must next decide whether the defendants acts are close enough to the full offence.
What are the statutory defences?
Infancy
Defence of self or another
Defence of property
Insanity
Compulsion
What are the common law defences?
Impossibility - Complying with the law must be impossible
Necessity - Choice between two evils and picking the lesser.
Consent - Normally relates to sex. No a defense to bodily harm +
Intoxication - Not a defense in itself but a contributing factor
Mistake - No intent, not reckless
Sane Automatism - Actions with out conscious volition (Sleepwalking, sex, etc).
