Questions tagged [mens-rea]
Term of art referring to a "guilty mind," and a required element for some crimes.
25 questions
1
vote
2
answers
170
views
How do legal systems handle evidentiary standards that require proving historical mental states?
India's Supreme Court established in Uday v. Karnataka (2003) that rape by deception requires proving the accused's promise was fraudulent "from the very beginning" of the relationship, not ...
- 121
0
votes
1
answer
151
views
Is a generative AI's owner-operator capable of "knowingly" and "intentionally" acting in respect of the AI's output?
The development of generative AI, "a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to generate text, images, videos, audio, software code or other forms of data," routinely ...
- 21.8k
5
votes
1
answer
665
views
What is the difference between a subjective standard of fault and an objective standard of fault in law?
What is the difference between a subjective standard of fault and an objective standard of fault in law?
Jen♦
- 101k
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How does one reconcile ignorance of the law with mens rea?
We often hear the popular phrase "ignorance of the law is no excuse", yet mens rea is an essential element of many crimes and torts.
Putting aside morally unambiguous acts such as assault, ...
- 5,750
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Did Joe aid in a murder?
This is inspired by the movie "My Cousin Vinny." Consider the following hypothetical situation:
Two 18-year-old people, Joe and Larry, set out on a drive to California, with Joe driving ...
- 1,893
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Obligations based on disputed assertions
When a law requires someone to do something when certain circumstances exist, is it strict liability? Does a fact-finder finding that those circumstances did in fact exist automatically establish ...
- 6,699
12
votes
2
answers
4k
views
What is willful blindness?
A couple nights ago the BBC was discussing a case ongoing with a famous person.
I did not catch most it but they said that federal law has a wilful blindness charge and in state courts a person could ...
- 315
13
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Can you get into trouble for driving after somebody spiked your drink?
Hypothetical:
Some ladies go on a night-on-the-town. One of the ladies is the sober driver and only drinks coke at the bar.
The sober driver had her drink spiked and as the party leaves she drives ...
- 9,004
-2
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How can mens rea in illegal staring be proved beyond reasonable doubt?
I saw this in London tube the other day:
Intrusive staring of a sexual nature is sexual harassment and is not tolerated.
See it or experience it on public transport? Always report by texting British ...
- 28.7k
3
votes
1
answer
315
views
Does the UK have an equivalent to the Cheek defence?
In essence, in the UK, can someone raise a defence of an unreasonable yet good-faith misunderstanding if charged with tax evasion?
In Cheek v. US, the US Supreme Court stated that a defendant’s mere ...
- 1,323
1
vote
0
answers
49
views
Is a person guilty of theft if they hold a sincere but mistaken belief that they own the stolen property? [duplicate]
Alice believes, on good reason, that an item belongs to her, but in fact it belongs to Bob. If Alice attempts to take the item for herself, is she guilty of theft? What if Alice already has the item ...
- 1,736
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Lack of mens rea defence to robbery
Rob forcibly grabs an item from Bob's hands, genuinely believing that it is his (Rob's) item and that Bob is possessing it unlawfully. Rob does so while knowing that Bob contends that the item is his (...
- 28.7k
27
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Can I trick an innocent third party into doing something that would be illegal if the third party had mens rea without either of us being guilty?
Lets say I want something to happen but doing it directly would be a crime. This is one crime that requires intent or mens rea.
So I hunt down an innocent third party, someone naïve, perhaps even a ...
- 10.5k
12
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Does indecent exposure require intentionality?
Meet Bob. Bob went out on the town wearing boxer shorts which in itself is entirely legal. A security guard pointed out to Bob that his shorts were unbuttoned so Bob buttoned them up. They later ...
1
vote
1
answer
433
views
What was the mens rea of being a common scold?
The obsolete offence of being a common scold is somewhat quaintly described by Blackstone (IV:13.5.8, p. 169) as
Lastly, a common scold, communis rixatrix, (for our law-latin confines it to the ...
- 3,903