LAWS 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Profit Motive
Document Summary
Punishment must be characterized by ccs" certainty (know that you will get caught and punished), celerity (quickly), severity (punishment proportionate to crime caused), in order to work. Categories of criminal acts: mala en se (evil in and of themselves wrongful killing, incest), mala prohibitum (offences that we have decided are evil largely because normative moral position (drug use and prostutition) Legal elements of a crime: mens rea mental element based on free will. Criminal liability must rest upon the free choice of an individual to do something he knows or should know to be wrong. Reasonable person test: objective standard of criminal responsibility against which is measured the subjective position of the accused. Cases: r. v. tolson (demonstrated defense of mistake of fact), r. v. ladue (mistake of fact), r. v. Prue, r. v. baril (two last were demonstrating knowledge as a form of mens rea: actus reus = illegal act or object.
