LS202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Actus Reus, Canada Gazette, De Minimis
13 May 2015
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Review and background: defining prohibited acts, codification and its limits (ignorance, connection between guilty mind and ba act, simultaneous principle. Test of causation; what is significant : omission; failure to act. Ignorance of the law: not a valid defence in criminal law. Facts: charge: trafficking restricted drug (mdma, not a restricted drug months prior to arrest, new law published in canada gazette. Issue was not yet in the criminal code. Appeal dismissed (molis lost at supreme court level) Ignorance is not a defence; gazette is sufficiently public available for people to read: crime did not meet standard of due diligence. Even if not yet in cc, ignorance is not a defence. Simultaneous principle is an actus reus and mens rea present - not as simple as it may seem. Facts: cooper was drinking with victim; while sitting in the jeep, cooper was hit by victim and grabbed her throat, cooper woke up and saw her body, charge: 2nd degree murder.
