5. Capacity and incapacitating conditions

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. A person should only be held criminally liable where he has the capacity to understand his actions, and to recognise the consequences which may flow from them, and, having understood them, where he has the capacity to control them. The criminal law recognises the requirement of rational capacity by excepting persons who lack rational capacity from liability in certain circumstances. This chapter examines the issues of infancy, insanity, automatism, and intoxication.

2. Actus reus

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter explains the concept of actus reus. It discusses the elements of crime; defining an actus reus; proving an actus reus; that conduct must be voluntary; omissions; causation; and coincidence of actus reus and mens rea.

13. Fraud

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter examines the offence of fraud, covering offences under the Theft Acts and offences under the Fraud Act (FA) 2006. The FA 2006 repealed various sections of the TA 1968 and TA 1978, replacing a number of individual offences based on deception with the offence of fraud which may be committed in three ways. It also creates the offence of dishonestly obtaining services to replace the offence of obtaining services by deception under s. 1 of the TA 1978. These offences are designed to overcome problems in the old law and to simplify the law.

8. Inchoate offences

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses inchoate crimes. A person does not break the criminal law simply by having evil thoughts. Where, however, a person takes steps towards effecting that plan to commit a substantive offence, he may in the process commit one of the inchoate crimes of attempt, conspiracy, or encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.

3. Mens rea

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. Mens rea refers to the mental element necessary for a particular crime. This may differ from one crime to another and the definition of each crime must be examined to determine what state of mind is required. This chapter discusses the meaning of intention, knowledge, recklessness, wilfulness, and mistake.

1. Introduction

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This introductory chapter answers the following questions: What is a crime? What purpose or function does the criminal law serve? Why is particular conduct classified as criminal? What are the purposes of punishment? It also examines briefly discusses the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on English law.

9. Homicide

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses offences of homicide: murder and manslaughter. Murder is unlawful homicide committed with ‘malice aforethought’ for which the penalty is life imprisonment. Manslaughter generally covers all unlawful homicides which are not murder. The punishment for this offence is in the discretion of the court. Manslaughter may be divided into voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter arises where the accused has committed murder but mitigating circumstances, either diminished responsibility or loss of self-control, are present reducing his culpability. Involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing where the accused lacked malice aforethought but otherwise had a state of mind which the law treats as culpable.

11. Sexual offences

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the main sexual offences including rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, offences against children, familial sex offences, offences against persons with a mental disorder, and preparatory offences.

7. Parties to crime

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the meaning of accomplices, vicarious liability, and corporate liability. All the parties to a crime are accomplices. The person who perpetrates the crime is referred to as the principal. Others, not being principals, who participate in the commission of an offence are referred to as accessories or secondary parties and will be liable to conviction if it is proved that they aided, abetted, counselled, or procured the commission of the crime by the principal. Vicarious liability is a form of strict liability arising from the master–servant relationship, without reference to any fault of the employer. A corporation is a legal person and therefore may be criminally liable even though it has no physical existence and cannot act or think except through its directors or servants.

4. Negligence and strict liability

Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on series provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the meaning of negligence; criminal liability for negligence; the meaning of strict liability; the origins of strict liability; identifying offences of strict liability; justifications for strict liability; defences to strict liability; and strict liability and the European Convention on Human Rights.