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ACE 2159 ICT and the Law Session Three : Online Transactions and Criminal Law 16.10.06

Four essential elements for contract to be formed. Offer;Acceptance;Consideration;Intention to create legal relations (n.b. rebuttable presumptions re. social and domestic agreements and business agreements). To be convicted of most crimes there must be both :. a guilty act-actus reusa g

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ACE 2159 ICT and the Law Session Three : Online Transactions and Criminal Law 16.10.06

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    1. ACE 2159 ICT and the Law Session Three : Online Transactions and Criminal Law 16.10.06 Willy Kitchen w.kitchen@sheffield.ac.uk 2227021

    2. Four essential elements for contract to be formed Offer; Acceptance; Consideration; Intention to create legal relations (n.b. rebuttable presumptions re. social and domestic agreements and business agreements)

    3. To be convicted of most crimes there must be both : a guilty act - actus reus a guilty mind - mens rea Both of these elements must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

    4. Actus Reus Actus reus might be the act itself e.g. dangerous driving (s.2 Road Traffic Act 1988) It might be the result of the act e.g. criminal damage (s.1(1) Criminal Damage Act 1971) It might be failure to act e.g. Children and Young Persons Act 1933 making child neglect (such as failure to feed) an offence

    5. ‘State of Affairs’ crimes Sometimes the same physical action will result in an otherwise legal activity becoming criminal due to the ‘state of affairs’, or circumstances. e.g. sexual intercourse becomes a crime (rape) if there is lack of consent. Sometimes there may be no specific act at all e.g. simply being found ‘in possession of’ drugs.

    6. Voluntary The act must be voluntary to gain conviction; It will not be voluntary in the event of Automatism where the defendant is unaware of or has no control over their actions due to some outside force e.g. being stung by swarm of bees (Hill v Baxter [1958]) However, the voluntarily consumption of drugs or alcohol cannot give rise to a defence of automatism, even if the defendant lacks control. There is a complex line of cases distinguish the facts and circumstances surrounding different people with diabetes and other chronic conditions where the self-administration of drugs may have resulted in different states of reduced mental capacity.

    7. Mens Rea This is the conscious state of mind which is normally needed, along side the actus reus, to gain a criminal conviction. It may be : - intention (to do or not to do something) - knowledge (of relevant circumstances) - recklessness (as to a result or circumstances) - mere carelessness In strict liability offences it will not be necessary to prove mens rea.

    8. For example … Woolmington v DPP [1935] The defendant killed his wife with a shot gun. He claimed that it went off accidentally. Actus reus = the shooting itself; Mens rea = the need to establish that the defendant intended to kill his wife at the time he fired the shot gun. The House of Lords held that it was for the prosecution to prove intent - it was not for the defendant to prove lack of intent.

    9. Factors and Levels of Criminal ‘Guilt’ knowledge recklessness negligence motive

    10. Knowledge For most (although not all) crimes, there must be knowledge. R v K [2001] Sexual activity with a girl under the age of 16 is indecent assault under s.14(1) Sexual Offences Act. Sexual activity with her consent and after she had stated that she was over 16 meant that no offence had been committed. It was stated that honest mistakes are not to be criminalised without specific statutory reference.

    11. Recklessness Some crimes require something short of actual intent - recklessness as to a result is sometimes sufficient : e.g. R v Venna [1975] A man caused injury to a policeman whilst striking out wildly in a scuffle. He did not consciously hit the policeman but to be found guilty of common assault (as opposed to a series of other more serious offences which would have been subject to more serious sentences), it was enough that he was reckless as to whether personal violence was caused.

    12. Negligence A person can be found guilty of a crime when there was no intent as to the result but their negligence caused the result (e.g. responsibilities under s7 Health and Safety at Work Act); To be convicted of murder there needs to be intent, but manslaughter can result from gross negligence where the defendant has a duty of care and fails to take due care; This is a complex area (and there are additional forms of manslaughter).

    13. Motive For many crimes motive will be irrelevant - it is simply a matter of fact to be established whether the actus reus has been done, together with the necessary mens rea. However, with some crimes the motive is what makes the offences ... e.g. s.29 Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Where s.20 (grievous bodily harm) or s.47 (actual bodily harm) offences under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 are committed with a contributing racist element, these become the offence of racially aggravated assault.

    14. … enjoy the rest of the course …

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