Essential Elements of a Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Essential Elements of a Crime - Essay ExampleUnder our scenario, it is unembellished that conduct of Stephen of punching Vincent in the stomach is, the actus reus of assault and battery. Battery in itself is unlawful taking into consideration that it is often meant at hurting the other party intentionally. In other words, Stephenss unlawful offensive physical collision against Vincent is tantamount to a sorry offence. Commission acts is a significant proof for the actus reus of a crime. The case at hand can also be examined from occasion point of view whereby action of the defendant resulted on a concomitant consequence. For instance, it can be established that Stephens act of punching Vincent was the major intellect of Vincents illness. This clearly proves that in case a definition of the actus reus calls for a proof of an occurrence of a particular consequences then the prosecutor carries the responsibility of proving that the defendants conduct directly ca utilise the conseq uences. For instance, if the prosecutor believes that Stephen conduct of battery was the reasonable cause of Vincent death then he/she has to prove this assertion. A conduct in criminal law does not need to be a commission only but also omission. V asserts that Clarkson (2005 102) Omission refers to failure to take a positive action and thus results in injury. Under universal common law not only in the United Kingdom but also in other countries practicing common law, no individual can be held criminally conjectural for an act of omission. However, at that place are exceptions to omission rule such as in cases where there is statutory calling, contractual obligation, conscious assumption of responsibility, duty due to defendants previous conduct, and public duty. Failure to act and or respond positively to the above exceptions can result to committing actus reus by omission. In our scenario Stephen was guilty of committing the actus reus of omission. This claim can be warrant by the fact that he failed respond to his prior act of causing bodily harm to Vincent and subsequently led to victims death. Under the common law defendant is often expected to prepare a dangerous situation, which he/she is directly responsible for its occurrence (Emanuel, 2007 95). Instead of helping Vincent who was, gasping for air on the floor Stephen just chose to run away even after punching him. Meanwhile Jim cannot be held criminally liable for committing actus reus of omission taking into consideration that he was under any statutory or contractual duty to help Vincent and there his inaction cannot attract any penalty under common law. Task 2 principles of novus actus interveniens and the egg shell rule Principle of novus actus interveniens is widely used in the context of causation and it is used to explain interference with the chain of causation or to mean a new intervening act (Hodgson, & Lewthwaite, 2007 61). The chain of causation in criminal law refers to the series of events triggered by the defendant that leads to a particular event and consequent injury. For instance, it can be established through a post-mortem that a serious stab wounds is the major cause of a victims death. The relationship between a guilty action and its consequences is an important antedate for establishing guilt and final liability not only in