Strict Liability Flashcards
What is meant by a strict liability offence?
“Where one element of the Actus Reus does not have a corresponding mens rea”
AP Simester (2021) “Six senses of strict liability”
What is the main presumption of criminal law
Mens rea is required unless it is proved that it is not required (Sweet v Parsley)
Common law and SL
SL offences primarily statute based and rarely applicable in CL
Where does the definition of strict liability come from
Sweet v Parsley
Pharmaceutical society of GB v Storkwain Ltd
Pharmaceutical society of GB v Storkwain Ltd - Storkwain ran a pharmacy in which prescriptions received from local doctors were examined, validated, and then sent on to a central-processing centre for dispensing. Unknown to Storkwain, some of the doctor’s prescriptions were forged. Storkwain dispensed and sold the controlled drugs on those forged instructions. So drugs sold on invalid prescription licenses. Did not have the right to sell.
He was guilty -> The Lords held that under s 85(5) only mens rea required was for the act of selling or supplying not of anything else. Prescription condition was SL.
Why? Public Policy -> Society has a particularly strong interest in ensuring that all controlled medicines are only supplied on genuine medical authority. Please look into the dangers.
Three cases which show
Pharmaceutical society of GB v Storkwain Ltd
Woodrow
Dealer is guilty of possessing adulterated tobacco, even though no reason to suspect it was unadulterated and he could not have known without testing
Cindy v Le Cocq
Landlord guilty of selling intoxicated liquor to a drunken person. D had no reason to believe the buyer was drunk – but court held no MR required in regard to that part of the AR. Only required intention to sell.
