LAWS 2302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Duty Counsel, Breathalyzer, Regulatory Offence
19 Feb 2014
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Mistake of fact, is the only one that can be used as a defense, because it means that there was no mens rea, you are morally not guilty. If your mistake was because you did not know it was against the law there is no defense. Mistake of law: 19: ignorance of the law by a person who commits an offence is not an excuse for committing that offence. It is not a defence to say, what i did may be illegal here, but it is not illegal in the country where i come from and i had no idea that it was illegal. Issue was that he was from a different country and did not know it was against the law, the onus is on the person to know the law to that country they are going to. : brought jewelry into canada in his wife"s name. Thought he had the right to do so, and not pay duty.
