Key principles Flashcards
What is a crime?
Committing an act against the state
What is the defendant?
The person in the wrong
What is the victim?
The person the act was committed against
What are the elements of a crime?
AR+ causation+ MR= liable
What is the actus reus?
A guilty act
The physical act of committing the crime
What is an omission?
Being liable due to failure to act
What are the elements of causation?
causation in fact+ legal causation- NAI= guilty
What is causation in fact?
the ‘but for’ test
What are the 3 elements of legal causation?
Morally responsible
More than minimal cause
Accelerated death
What are novus actus interveniums?
Acts that break the chain of causation
What are the 3 types of NAI?
Act of victim
Act of 3rd party
An intervening event
What are eggshell conditions?
A weakness meaning that the V was more likely to die or be seriously injured
Do eggshell conditions break the chain?
Never
What did the case of Blaue say about eggshell conditions?
You must take your victim as you found them
What is the mens rea?
A guilty mind and if they intended to cause the crime
What are the 5 types of mens rea?
Direct intent
Oblique intent
Recklessness
Negligence
Transferred malice
What is direct intent?
Having the aim and desire to produce a certain result (Mohan)
What is oblique intent?
where the D intends one thing but something else occurs but it is virtually certain that this thing would happen (Woollin)
What is recklessness?
Where there was a risk of a bad outcome but the D takes that risk anyways (Cunningham)
What is negligence?
Guilty if they didn’t act as the reasonable man would have in the circumstances
What is transferred malice?
D can be guilty if he commits a similar crime against against a different victim
What is the case for transferred malice?
Latimer- transferred to woman even though intended to strike man
What is strict liabilty?
Where only the actus reus has to be proven eg. speeding
What is the case and held for strict liability?
Sweet v Parsley- Tenants growing drugs in house but she didn’t know so strict liability
