LAW

Aspects of Criminal Law Relating to Business

Aspects of Criminal Law Relating to Business

Actus Reus

Actus reus which is also known as an external element as well as the objective element in relation to a crime is used as a Latin word which means “guilty act”. It is used in relation to mens rea which means guilty mind. In Actus reus all elements that concerns a crime are considered besides the mental element (Robinson, 1997, pp.23).

Crimes can be divides in to two broad categories under Actus Reus:

Firstly there are crimes that are conducted in which the Actus Reus is said to be a prohibited or restricted conduct itself. For instance, Actus Reus of offence concerning dangerous or rash driving can be simply being stated as “utilization of a vehicle that is mechanically propelled in a public place” which is said to be a road Traffic Act of 1988. According to this act if there is no harm induced than severe consequences are not faced.

Secondly it can be classified into result crimes whereby it states that Actus Reus related to an offence needs to have a genuine proof concerning the conduct and also proof that the conduct was a root cause of the prohibited consequence. For instance, the Actus Reus of a criminal damaged asset can only be proven when the property which belongs to the other is actually damaged. This rule is stated under the act of 1971 Criminal Damage

The crime committed must be done by an individuals should involve his will to do it or should be voluntary by nature. The act can be voluntary due to variety of reasons and the reasons constitute:

Automatism

Automatism can be defined as a state where the individual or the defendant is committing an action but does not have the awareness of what he/she is doing or it can be that he/she is not in control of his/her actions due to the indulgence of external factor.

Reflex Action

People have the tendency to react to a situation spontaneously due to reflex actions to which they have no control off. This factor is different yet can be classified as automatism as well.

Physical Force

The person committing an action is physically forced by an external factor to conduct a crime. This factor cannot be termed as Actus reus (Symposium, 1994, pp.1443).

Case on Actus Reus being Voluntary

R v Quick [1973]

An defendant is an individual who is a diabetic patient and he was charged of physically assaulting an individual. The physical assault was done when the individual/defendant was said to be in a state of hypoglycemia due to excessive injection of insulin. The defendant wasn't charged since his case was categorized under automatism whereby it was stated that he was under a state of unconsciousness which consequently resulted in the act of assault that is injection of insulin hormone.

Leicester v Pearson (1952)

A car driver was said to be held accountable for not giving way to an individual/pedestrian on a road with zebra ...