POLI SCI 452 : Chapter 7 notes
30 Oct 2014
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Truck driver, coal weight given as 15,750, drops truck off to new driver who weighs it the next day and gets a weight of 16,015. He is over the weigh restriction and given a ticket. Mala in se: crimes because the act is bad in and of itself: mental element, physical element. Courts cannot review the discretion of the legislature, or pass upon the expediency, wisdom, or propriety of legislative action in matters within its powers. Misdemeanor offenses where there is no possibility of imprisonment and no fine greater than may be imposed no mental state need be proven. Most crimes require proof of some knowledge or intent this creates an absolute statutory liability. To establish an absolute liability for such transgressions would be equal to punishing a defendant for sins of a neighbor- sins that he had no. Knowledge of nor reason to have knowledge of, in this light,
