KEY WORDS CRIMINAL LAW🕵🏻( Rules Of Criminal Law)

Question 1

Actus reus

Answer 1

This is an act an omission or a state of affairs that is the voluntary conduct together with any required consequences caused by the prohibited conduct of the offence.

Question 2

Men’s rea

Answer 2

The mental element (guilty mind) or the fault element in an offence

Question 3

Conduct crime

Answer 3

It is not necessary for a consequence to be proved - these are known as conduct crimes eg. theft

Question 4

Consequences crime

Answer 4

The prohibited conduct must also result in a consequence

Question 5

State of affairs crimes

Answer 5

Actus reus can be a state of affairs for which D is responsible. Eg carrying an offensive weapon in a public place

Question 6

Omission

Answer 6

A failure to act when you owe a duty of care

Question 7

Good Samaritan law

Answer 7

Makes a person responsible for helping others in emergency situations

Question 8

Statutory duty

Answer 8

When an act of parliament creates liability for an omission eg. Failing to report a road traffic accident- S170 of the road traffic act 1998

Question 9

Factual causation

Answer 9

The consequences would not have happened but for Ds actions

Question 10

Legal causation

Answer 10

There may be more than one act which contributes to the consequence - as long as D is a more than minimal cause - they can be liable

Question 11

Novus Actus intervenies

Answer 11

Latin phrase which means there will be appearance of new act or event in the causal chain between initial event in a sequence and the result causing a break in the continuity of the same

Question 12

Victims owns act

Answer 12

If D causes the victim to react in a reasonably foreseeable way then the injury to the victim will have been considered to be caused by the defendant (if it is considered unreasonable then this can break the chain of causation)