General Defences
Definition
The statutory list of defences, such as infancy, unsoundness of mind, intoxication, mistake, necessity and private defence, that can excuse or negate criminal liability.
Related terms
- Absolute Liability
- A stricter form of no-fault liability where even a reasonable mistake of fact gives no defence, reserved for a narrow set of...
- Actus Reus
- The guilty act: the physical conduct, the consequence, and the surrounding circumstances that the law forbids. Without a voluntary act there is...
- Concurrence Principle
- The rule that the guilty act and the guilty mind must exist at the same point in time for liability to attach.
- Mens Rea
- The guilty mind: intention, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence as required by the section charged. BNS Section 3 sets out general explanations of...
- Statutory Offence
- An offence created by legislation rather than common law, where the text of the statute usually states which fault element, if any,...
- Strict Liability
- A rule that convicts on proof of the act alone for at least one element of an offence, while still allowing a...
- Vicarious Liability
- A rule making an employer answerable for a wrongful act an employee commits in the course of employment, without proof that the...