elements of criminal law: actus reus

Question 1

what is the actus reus of a crime and what can it be?

Answer 1

guity act or guilty conduct

can be a: positive act, failure to act (omission) or state of affairs

Question 2

what is a conduct crime?

Answer 2

those where the AR is the prohibited conduct itself and a consequence is not required from it e.g driving with excess alcohol in your bloodstream (S5(a) Road Traffic Act 1988)

Question 3

what is a consequence crime

Answer 3

requires the D to act/not act (omission), but also for their conduct to have an outcome e.g ABH caused by battery (S47 Offences Against the Persons Act 1861

Question 4

explain: voluntary nature of AR

Answer 4

act must be voluntary - D should be able to control some of his actions (Hill v Baxter)

if act is involuntary, as they do not have control over their conduct, they cannot be guilty of the crime (Woolley)

Question 5

explain: state of affairs

Answer 5

when someone is in a situation, which is not of their choosing, but is sufficient to fulfil the AR of an offence (Larsonneur)