Criminal Law

Crime is categorized as a part of public law – the law regulating the relations between citizens and the state. Crimes can be thought of as acts which the state considers to be wrong and which can be punished by the state.

In many legal systems it is an important principle that a person cannot be considered guilty of a crime until the state proves he committed it. The suspect himself need not prove anything, although he will of course help himself if he can show evidence of his innocence. The state must prove his guilt according to high standards, and for each crime there are precise elements which must be proven. In codified systems, these elements are usually recorded in statutes. In common law systems, the elements of some crimes are detailed in statutes; others, known as "common law crimes," are still described mostly in case law.

There are usually two important elements to a crime: (i) the criminal act itself; and (ii) the criminal state of mind of the person when he committed the act. In Anglo-American law these are known by the Latin terms of (i) Actus Reusand (ii) Mens Rea.The differences between these can be explained by using the crime of murder as an example.

In English law there is a rather long common law definition of murder:The unlawful killing of a human being under the Queen's Peace, with malice aforethought, so that the victim dies within a year and a day.

Malice aforethoughtrefers to the mens rea of the crime and is a way of saying that the murderer intended to commit a crime.

The rest of the murder definition refers to the actus reus. The prosecution must show that the suspect did in fact cause the death of someone.

In deciding if the defendant's act caused death, the court must be sure that the act was a substantial causeof the result.

In general, if the prosecution fails to prove either actus or mens, the court must decide there was no crime and the case is over.

If actus and mens have been proved, a defendant may still avoid guilt if he can show he has a defense–a reason the court should excuse his act.

Different systems of law recognize different and usually limited sets of defenses. For example, English law sometimes allow the defense of duress–being forced to commit a crime because of threats that you or someone else will be harmed if you don't. Another defense is that of insanity.In most countries a person cannot be found guilty of a crime if in a doctor's opinion he cannot have been responsible for his actions because of mental illness. Nearly every system of law recognizes the defense of self-defense.

Although most criminal laws in the world refer to acts of violence or theft, there are laws regulating almost every kind of human behavior.

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<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Civil and public law	\|	CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON

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