GLOSSARY

Mens rea definition

What does Mens rea mean?

The 'guilty mind', the intent element of an offence.

Properly translated the term means “criminal intention”, or an intention to do the act which is made penal by statute or the common law. However, the term is used to embrace any mental element that may be an ingredient of a criminal offence, eg recklessness, knowledge. It is necessary to turn to the definition of the particular offence to ascertain the mens rea which must be proved. The mental and other components of a criminal offence can, however, on occasions be difficult to distinguish, eg “possessing”, “keeping”, “permitting”. These terms import both physical and mental elements.

Minimise

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Attempt

A person is guilty of attempting to commit an offence if they do an act that is more than preparatory to the commission of the offence, with the intention of committing an offence. An attempt is an offence of specific intent. It requires an intention to commit an offence. The offence itself consists of both a criminal act and a mental state. In each case it is a question of fact whether the accused has gone sufficiently far towards the full offence to have committed the act of the attempt. If the accused has passed the preparatory stage the offence of attempt has been committed and it is no defence that they then withdrew from committing the completed offence. Most attempts at committing criminal offences will be governed by section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 (CAA 1981), although some statutory exceptions apply. These include:•burglary, and•using a firearm to resist arrestCAA 1981, s 3 deals with such statutory provisions and they will generally be governed by the same principles as under s 1.Act must be more than merely preparatoryA defendant's actions must be shown to have gone beyond mere preparation towards the commission of the substantive offence. An omission cannot suffice even where there is the requisite mental element. For example, a refusal to call an ambulance for a person who

Vicarious liability

What is vicarious liability?The general principle in criminal law is liability is personal not vicarious. This means that one person cannot be held liable for the crimes of another (other than where a person has aided, abetted, counselled or procured the act of another). (R v Huggins )See Encouraging and assisting criminality.There are exceptions to this general principle and, in some circumstances, liability can be transferred vicariously to another.Vicarious liability for public nuisance In R v Shorrock, the defendant was held to be vicariously liable for the common law offence of public nuisance having granted a licence over a field which was used for an event at which loud music was played which disturbed local residents. The defendant was not present at the event, but was found guilty of causing a public nuisance.In R v Stephens the defendant, an owner of a quarry, was convicted of nuisance when his workmen (contrary to his instructions and without his knowledge) disposed of rubbish into a river, where it obstructed the navigation. On appeal the court held the defendant was liable and said the object of the case was not to punish but to prevent this nuisance from being continued.PCSCA 2022, s 78 introduces a statutory offence of public nuisance and abolishes the common law offence. The statutory offence covers the same conduct as the common law

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Is an offence under section 111 of the Water Industry Act 1991 a strict liability offence?

Is an offence under section 111 of the Water Industry Act 1991 a strict liability offence? Many of the common environmental offences impose strict liability on the actions of a defendant. When an offence does not require proof of a mental element, or where no fault element is required in relation to one element of the actus reus but where mens rea is required in relation to other aspects, it is an offence of strict liability. In order to secure a conviction for a strict liability offence the only thing which needs to be proven is the act or omission which forms part of the offence and there is no need to prove any negligence or fault on the part of the defendant. See Practice Note: Strict liability. The justifications for imposing strict liability for environmental crimes include: • it is in the public interest to do so • it acts as a deterrent so that those who have to comply with the law do not take risks, and • it makes it easier for regulators to enforce and prosecute environmental offences The fact that an offence is one of strict liability may be expressly stated in the statute or will arise by implication as the effect of the statute. Where the statute is silent, applying Sweet v Parsley, the courts will start from the presumption that Parliament did not intend

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Government expedites legislation on a register of overseas entities that own UK property in its Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill 2022

Property analysis: As part of its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, HM Government intends to fast-track the long-awaited Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill (the Bill). The Bill requires overseas entities to register with, and provide details of their beneficial owners to, UK Companies House before the overseas entity can be registered as the legal owner of UK land. Based on the draft Registration of Overseas Entities Bill (published and consulted on in July 2018 and originally intended to go live in 2021) implementation is now expected to proceed at pace once the Bill becomes law. Mukul Chawla QC and Chris Ormond, associate director—knowledge development lawyer, at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner consider the key provisions of the Bill.

Public Law weekly highlights—24 February 2022

This week's edition of Public Law weekly highlights includes selected Brexit headlines, including updates on the ninth meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee and the first meeting of the Trade Partnership Committee, progress in the UK's common frameworks project and international trade priorities, as well as the latest post-Brexit guidance and SIs. This edition further includes feature analysis on the new UK standard contractual clauses for personal data transfers, plans to redraft the EUSS late applications guidance, proposals for safeguarding the supply of medicines from GB to NI, and warnings of pressure on the government to deregulate finance. Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates include the government's plans for removing the remaining restrictions in England, plus key SIs and operational guidance from the courts. Also included, the UK's sanctions on Russia in response to the situation in Ukraine, a consultation on the proposed restriction of Huawei from UK telecoms networks, an inquiry into Lord Chancellor and Law Officers roles, analysis on Facebook’s metaverse aspirations, and the place of health and social care in the new procurement landscape, plus additional updates on constitutional and administrative law, State aid and public sector pensions. Case analysis this week includes details and analysis of the latest equality and human rights cases.

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16. Intention.

16. Intention. The mental element required to constitute many serious crimes is an intention to bring about a specified consequence, which may or may not be required to result from the defendant's conduct1. A person intends a consequence where he acts in order to bring it about2. Where he has this aim or purpose, he acts intentionally as to that consequence, though, to his knowledge, the chances of his causing the result are small. If he does not have this aim or purpose, he may nevertheless be found to have intended it in the rare case where

Mens rea is referenced 1 in Halsbury's Laws of England

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