Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
1. Define:
Mens Rea
Actus Rea
2. Offenses punishable under penal laws
Culpa
Dolo
3. Requisites
4. Motive vs. Intent
5. General Criminal Intent vs. Specific
Criminal Intent
6. When motive becomes material?
7. General characteristics of Criminal Law
8. Principle of extraterritoriality
9. Who may incur criminal liability?
10.Praeter Intentionem
Mens rea
The technical term mens rea is sometimes
referred to in common parlance as the
gravamen of the offense. To a layman,
that is what you call the bullseye of the
crime. This term is used synonymously
with criminal or deliberate intent, but that
is not exactly correct.
Mens rea of the crime depends upon the
elements of the crime. You can only detect
the mens rea of a crime by knowing the
particular crime committed. Without
reference to a particular crime, this term is
meaningless. For example, in theft, the
mens rea is the taking of the property of
another with intent to gain. In falsification,
the mens rea is the effecting of the forgery
with intent to pervert the truth. It is not
merely writing something that is not true;
the intent to pervert the truth must follow
the performance of the act.
In criminal law, we sometimes have to
consider the crime on the basis of intent.
For example, attempted or frustrated
homicide is distinguished from physical
injuries only by the intent to kill.
Attempted rape is distinguished from acts
of lasciviousness by the intent to have
sexual intercourse. In robbery, the mens
rea is the taking of the property of another
coupled with the employment of
intimidation or violence upon persons or
things; remove the employment of force or
intimidation and it is not robbery anymore.
Culpa
- Criminal negligence
Dolo
- The deliberate intent otherwise
referred to as criminal intent, and
must be coupled with freedom of
action and intelligence on the part of
the offender as to the act done by
him.
Requisites:
1. Criminal intent
2. Freedom of action
3. Intelligence
Requisites to Felony:
There must be:
1. An act or omission;
2. Punishable by the RPC; and,
3. The act is performed or the omission
incurred by means of dolo or culpa
Distinction between intent and motive
Intent is demonstrated by the use of a
particular means to bring about a desired
result it is not a state of mind or a reason
for committing a crime.
On the other hand, motive implies motion.
It is the moving power which impels one to
do an act. When there is motive in the
commission of a crime, it always comes
before the intent. But a crime may be
committed without motive.
If the crime is intentional, it cannot be
committed without intent. Intent is
manifested by the instrument used by the
offender. The specific criminal intent
becomes material if the crime is to be
distinguished from the attempted or
frustrated stage. For example, a husband
came home and found his wife in a
pleasant conversation with a former suitor.
Thereupon, he got a knife. The moving
force is jealousy. The intent is the resort to
the knife, so that means he is desirous to
kill the former suitor. Even if the offender
states that he had no reason to kill the
victim, this is not criminal intent. Criminal
intent is the means resorted to by him that
brought about the killing. If we equate
intent as a state of mind, many would
escape criminal liability.
In a case where mother and son were living
in the same house, and the son got angry
and strangled his mother, the son, when
prosecuted for parricide, raised the defense
that he had no intent to kill his mother. It
was held that criminal intent applies on the
strangulation of the vital part of the body.
Criminal intent is on the basis of the act,
not on the basis if what the offender says.
Look into motive to determine the proper
crime which can be imputed to the
accused. If a judge was killed, determine if
TERRITORIALITY
Proximate cause
Territoriality means that the penal laws
of the country have force and effect
only within its territory. It cannot
penalize crimes committed outside the
same. This is subject to certain
exceptions brought about by