Introduction to Law

On a more philosophical level, further issues arise. The one is nicely encapsulated by Wittgenstein’s observation: [...] “when ‘ ...

The paradigmatic case of statutory duties of care can however be found in the “Good Samaritan” or “easy rescue statutes.” Articl ...

d) Duties based on ownership or on responsibility for a source of danger—under this category fall cases where ownership or respo ...

two major kinds ofmens rea: intention and negligence. The English framework includes a third subjective element in between inten ...

have killed his wife for another reason, without this changing his direct intent. Arguably, his motives should be taken into acc ...

intent. In Germany, almost any likelihood suffices but small chances are considered not to be accepted by the defendant and ther ...

By contrast, when the agent is aware of a risk but assumes that the result will not occur, this is called conscious negligence. ...

Negating Wrongfulness and Blameworthiness The most fundamental rationale of the distinction is that a justification negates the ...

Necessity A second requirement for justification on the basis of self-defense is that the defense must be a capable and necessar ...

disorder at the time when he committed the offense. Almost all disorders that are medically recognized, such as psychoses, neuro ...

level, criminal attempts can be conceived as conduct carried out with the intent to commit a crime but that fails to achieve the ...

perpetrator’s conduct can be considered to be aimed at the completion of the offence. In a pertinent case the defendants were ar ...

identify the steps for accurately establishing if criminal law was breached and if an individual (the accused) can be deemed cul ...

The criminal process carries a natural imbalance because at the earlier stage of the proceedings, one of the two sides (the pros ...

7.10.2 Trial Purpose of Trial At trial, an impartial court (a single judge, a panel, or a jury) decides whether the accused (mor ...

The Term “Inquisitorial” The term “inquisitorial” could sound surprising. The inquisitorial system of medieval times was charact ...

7.11.2 Quest for Truth Given this historical reconstruction, legal scholars build their adversarial and nonadversarial dichotomy ...

Even the traditional common law rule that prohibits the use at trial of investigative evidence has been relaxed lately. Although ...

7.12 Basic Principles of Criminal Justice Systems, the Presumption of Innocence 7.12.1 Tension Between Security and Liberty As m ...

For instance, the husband of a woman is usually presumed to be the biological father of the baby born during the marriage, unles ...