CRMN 2010U Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Actus Reus, Willful Blindness, Indictable Offence
18 Apr 2018
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They have a licence to hunt for moose bull and calf, but not a cow. Andrew sees two moose about 200 feet away. He examines the moose through his rifle scope and concludes that a smaller moose is a calf and a larger one is a cow. Andrew kills the smaller moose but it turns out to be a cow. Mistake of fact mistake about factual circumstances; the accused had no reason to believe that he/she was committing a crime. Mistake of fact shows lack of mens rea (accused did not choose to do something wrong) For offences that require subjective mens rea - mistake must be honest, but usually no need to show that it was reasonable (exceptions exist) For offences that require objective mens rea - mistake must be honest and reasonable (why do we require mistake to also be reasonable?)
