- Act of stranger or non-human intervening act over which the
defendant has no control. This defence could apply to an offence
where an owner of cattle is strictly liable for cattle straying onto a
public road. If the cattle get out onto the road due to the wrongful act
of a stranger in circumstances where the defendant had no
knowledge or control over the stranger, then the defence may be
made out.
3.2.4 Absolute Liability
It is also necessary to mention that there is other type of offence which
imposes absolute liability. Here, mens rea is absent but in addition, the
defence of honest and reasonable mistake which applies to strict liability
offence does not apply. Courts are quite reluctant to interpret a statute as
one that imposes absolute liability but will do so if the legislative
intention is clear. Courts ensure that by imposing absolute liability the
objects of the legislation are being met and not merely that ‘luckless
victims’ are being caught. In the example given above concerning theadvertisement of the car, the court would reject the argument that it was (^)
an absolute liability offence.
3.3 ‘White-Collar’ Crime
‘White collar’ crime is a very broad area of criminal law and little more
can be done in this course than to give a brief overview and raise some
issues, in particular, the difficulty that the law has in controlling this
form of activity. The theme here is that the law is almost always behind
the criminal.
3.3.1 Definition of ‘White-Collar’ Crime
There is no part of criminal law that is recognised separately as ‘white-
collar’. Rather, it is a collection of a broad range of offences, which are
more likely to be committed by a person in business than the ordinary
criminal.
3.3.2 Controlling White-Collar Crime
Four problems may be identified in this area:
- having the right law;
- catching the criminal’
- keeping up with technology; and
- securing convictions.