Unit 2 - Criminal Law

ACTUS REUS. - This is the physical element of the offence also know as the guilty act.

VOLUNTARY ACTUS REUS.

This is where D does not act of their own freewill. The general rule is that the defendant must voluntarily commit  the actus reus and so if the defendant can prove with reasonable doubt that he did not commit the actus reus, then he has no actus reus and so he did not commit the crime.

This is based on  the case of Hill-v-Baxter where the D suffered a heart attack while driving and crash his car. The judge gave an example of a swam of bees entering the car when D was driving, they said, he would not act voluntarily and so he would not be guilty of an offence.

STATE OF AFFAIRS.

This is where D does not need to act voluntarily as he is found guilty because of the illegal state of the affairs exists.

This is based on he case of Winzar-v-Chief Constable of Kent where the police put a drunken D on the round and then arrested him for being there and then D was convicted of being found drunk on a public highway even though police had to put him there.

COMMISSION.

This is where D physically does an act  such as punch, stab or kick which sometimes is enough  and therefore there is no for a consequence.

OMISSION.

This is where  D fails to act when under a duty  to act. There are two areas of duty:

Statutory Duty: