CRM 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Fundamental Justice, Mens Rea, Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm
Document Summary
11. brought in a charter challenge section 287 of the cc made abortion a criminal offence unless it was carried out in a hospital after an approval by a committee that determined the pregnancy . 12. supreme court struck down section 287 of the cc (regulating the performance of abortion in canada) 13. did section 287 infringe section 7 of the charter: forcing women by threat of criminal sanction to carry a fetus to term is profound interference with her body and security . Could section 287 be salvaged by section 1 of the charter: no, administration of the abortion committees were arbitrary and unfair. Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea : meaning: an act does not render a person guilty of a criminal offence unless his or her mid is also guilty. The existence of actus reus = intervention of the cjs, physical evidence, has its own mental element.