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Fctus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea-: Crime Was Committed

Mens rea is a Latin term meaning "guilty mind" and refers to the mental state and intent of the defendant when committing a crime. The criminal justice system differentiates between those who did not intend to commit a crime and those who intentionally set out to do so. An act alone does not make one guilty - the mind must also be guilty. While negligence is generally a civil matter, at some point carelessness can become culpable enough to be considered criminal negligence under some statutes. Certain crimes like under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code are strict liability crimes that do not require intent. The distinction between culpable homicide and murder was clarified in Reg. vs Govinda, where actions causing unintentional death

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67 views1 page

Fctus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea-: Crime Was Committed

Mens rea is a Latin term meaning "guilty mind" and refers to the mental state and intent of the defendant when committing a crime. The criminal justice system differentiates between those who did not intend to commit a crime and those who intentionally set out to do so. An act alone does not make one guilty - the mind must also be guilty. While negligence is generally a civil matter, at some point carelessness can become culpable enough to be considered criminal negligence under some statutes. Certain crimes like under Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code are strict liability crimes that do not require intent. The distinction between culpable homicide and murder was clarified in Reg. vs Govinda, where actions causing unintentional death

Uploaded by

Shivi Chola
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Question 4

a. Most crimes require what attorneys refer to as "mens rea," which is Latin for a "guilty mind."
In other words, what was the defendant's mental state and what did the defendant intend when the crime was
committed.
Mens rea allows the criminal justice system to differentiate between someone who did not mean to commit a
crime and someone who intentionally set out to commit a crime.

Fctus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea- The maxim means that an act does not itself make one guilty unless
the mind is also guilty. 

Negligence should not be given criminal nature


 "negligence" in legal terminology, and generally results in only civil liability. However, at some point general
carelessness turns into something more culpable, and some criminal statutes have heightened negligence
standards such as criminal or reckless negligence.
Criminal negligence-

Unintentional Harmful behaviour-


General exceptions

There are certain exceptions- strict liability crimes in IPC – Section 375

b.

This line was brought out in the case of Abdul Waheed Khan Alias Waheed and others v. State of AP

n the scheme of the Penal Code, culpable homicide is genus and murder its specie. All murder is culpable homicide but not vice- versa.
Section 299 and Section 300 IPC deal with the definition of Culpable Homicide and murder.

The distinction between sections 299 and 300 was made clear by Melvil J. in Reg. vs Govinda [1876 ILR Bom 342]. In this case the accused had
knocked his wife down, put one knee on her chest, and struck her two or three violent blows on the face with the closed fist, producing
extraversion of blood on the brain and she died in consequence, either on the spot, or very shortly afterwards, there being no intention to cause
death and the bodily injury not being sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. The accused was liable for culpable homicide not
amounting to murder.

The difference between these two offences is a difference of degree not of form. The degree of intention or knowledge determines the nature of
the offence, whether it is murder or culpable homicide.

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