PUB2 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Absolute Liability

• School: McGill University
• Department: Public Law 2
• Course: PUB2 111
• Professor: Maxime Hebrard

Document Summary

Standards of fault: why do we have standards of fault, allows us to define or articulate meaningful distinctions in behaviour. Labelling and communication: distinguishing behaviour for the purposes of sentencing, practical or policy reasons. It"s difficult to prove absolute intent so it allows legislatures a certain extent of freedom in how they go about setting an objective law based on their objectives. Ar + mr + no defence = cl (actus reus + mens rea + no defence = criminal liability) Why is mens rea relevant to elements below: role of moral blameworthiness. Motive: "it does not matter to society, in its efforts to secure social peace and order, what an accused"s motive was [ ]. " "intent to assist the enemy: ambiguous: the motive is not always straightforward. "where two or more persons form an intention in common to carry out an unlawful purpose and to assist each other therein "