Essay The Meaning of Actus Reus and the Chain of Causation

Oxford English Dictionary- An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law: ‘shoplifting was a serious crime’.

The film describes a crime as being a violation of public laws which are the laws imprinted in the constitution and the law book of our society. According to the text Criminal Justice in Action, a crime can be defined as an action or activity that is considered an offense against society that is punishable by criminal law and sanctions based on laws. In the film, there are two different classification of crimes: a misdemeanor and a felony. Misdemeanors are petty crimes that can give you a punishment of less to a

be described. Jurisdictional requirements for this case as well as the reasons why it was heard at

Actus Reus – The term Actus Reus is Latin and loosely translated it means the wicked act.

The decision of the High Court in regards to the intoxication of the plaintiff and resulting level of liability is echoed in sections 49 and 50

Richards v. Richards, 181 Wis. 2d 1017, 513 N.W.2d 122. For example, in Richard, the court found the document signed by the plaintiff served two purposes: (1) authorizing her to ride in a Company truck, and (2) releasing Company from liability. Id. Moreover, the court ruled that a reasonable person would not take a document titled “Passenger Authorization” to release the defendant from liability. Id. In Richards, the plaintiff signed the waiver required to ride along with her husband in his truck. Id. at 1010, 513 N.W.2d 119. While riding in the truck with her husband, the truck overturned and the plaintiff was pinned inside the vehicle, causing injuries. Id. at 1014, 513 N.W.2d 121. The court concluded that the waiver did not go far enough as to describe the nature or significance of what injury the plaintiff might sustain because the passenger release and authorization to ride were combined into one document and served two purposes. Id. at 1018, N.W.2d

(b) R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (No.1) [1990] AC 85 and (No.2) [1991] 1 AC 603

the instant offense of conviction; (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is

In the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, the Department of Transportation made some auto manufacturers put restraints in their vehicles, but not all the vehicles. This was under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Alexis Geier was hurt during an accident while driving a 1987 Honda Accord that was not one of the vehicles equipped with restraints. Alexis and her family wanted damages under District of Columbia tort law, she believed the Honda company acted negligently when they did not put an air bag on the driver’s side of the vehicle. The ruling in that was that her claims were pre-empted by the Act. The Court of Appeals concluded that the Act was pre-empted to the law suit.

Consequentialism and non-consequentialism are both action based ethical frameworks that people can use to make ethical judgments. Consequentialism is based on examining the consequences of one’s actions as opposed to non-consequentialism which is focused on whether the act is right or wrong regardless of the outcome (Burgh, Field & Freakley, 2006). The three sub-categories of consequentialism are altruism, utilitarianism and egoism.

Actus Reus is the physical act of the crime why the defendant did what they did? Referring back to murder the defendant could have unlawfully kill someone if they had a bad intention but if the defendant did it for self defence then it is not classed as unlawful. Omissions as Actus Reus is killing the victim e.g. stabbing them, running them over, shooting them etc. the natural rule of omission cant actually make the defendant guilty of the act he has committed. This was told by Stephen J, a 19th century judge in the following way and I quote “A sees B drowning and is able t save him by holding out his hand. An abstains from doing so in order that B may be drowned. A has committed no offence” an omission is only agreeable for the Actus Reus, where there is a duty to act. There are four important positions in which such duty can exist.

Actus Reus: There is not a crime unless a person has committed an act. There is a distinction between an act versus a status. A person with a drug addiction cannot be convicted for being an addict. The law only punishes actions. Was the act voluntary or involuntary in nature? If a sibling involuntarily struck their brother while sleeping in the middle of the night would not constitute as an assault, as it was an involuntary motion. Ca

Actus reus is the Latin term for “guilty act” and is defined as the physical element of an offense covering all acts which are not psychological, it is one of two integral elements which are needed to make up an offence the other being mens reus, when these two are paired together without any defence the resulting verdict in a court of law would be guilty.

The theory of the Four Causes refers to an influential Aristotelian principle whereby the causes of movement and/or change are categorized allowing us to have knowledge of our existence and everything around us. Aristotle wrote that "we do not have knowledge of a thing until we have grasped its ‘why’, that is to say, its cause." He provided an account of the operation of various individual substances in the universe. Distinctions were made between things of two sorts: those that are contingent on something else’s movement and those that necessary in their own movement. Aristotle not only suggested a proper description of these but also attempted to answer particular questions such as ‘Why does this event happen?’ and ‘Why is this object as

A crime is the breaking of certain rules laid out by a society i.e. the Government. Crime is said to be ‘activities that break the law and are subject to official punishment (Holborn and Haralambos, 2000, pg. 330)