The Content of Crime

1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Main Content

• Common Law
• Public Law
• Mens rea
• Act or Commission
• Strict and Absolute liability offences

4. Conclusion
5. Summary

6.0    Tutor-Marked Assignment

7.0    Reference

 Introduction

In the last unit, you learned about the technical use of the term “crime”. It is much narrower than ‘deviance”. You saw few constitutional and other statutory safeguards to ensure a fair trial of persons accused of crime. You discussed the purposes of criminal law its dynamics as well  as its neglected side. In this unit, you will be learning more about the conceptsof crime. As pointed out earlier, criminal law is all about crime control and prevention.

 Objectives

When you have studied this unit, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish as far as practicable moral wrong and public wrong.
2. Classify some criminal conduct.
3. Recognise criminal proceedings as well as the distinguishing mark between civil wrong and a crime
4. Recognise the peculiarity of human rights violation.

Main Content

The Criminal Code is a codification of the common law with few amendments but both are not congruent. The Common law is a seamless wells and it assumes that law always existed even if you cannot immediately find it. Conversely, in Nigeria, exclusionary rule operates  and the Criminal Code or Penal Code is exhaustive. Consequently, you are not permitted to look at materials beyond the legislation to decide the meaning of what any of them contains. Your concern should be the language (call it esoteric jargons or strange language) consumed in the statute. To these you must turn as we explore the contents of crime.

Self Assessment Exercise

1. Define the term “crime”
2. What do you understand by “act” ?

Common law

Common impacts the content of the Criminal Law.

Common law is the customs of the Anglo-Saxon England. It has its root in the life of the ancient English people. it receipts their social structure, and their way of life. It is a historical creation, with features that reflect the contingencies and accidents of history rather than any rational design. It is no more than an input of the Norman rationalization and it bid to centralize his a authority. Although the distinctive features of the common law were not relevant to Africa; the law was  nonetheless engaged into the local laws of the dependencies and subsequently changed that character and legal institutions of the latter. This explain why in our laws, you find expressions in Latin, Norman French, Ango- Norman among others. The dourines of equity as franchise in England still obtains in Nigerian courts. Inquisitorial system was suppressed and replaced by other accusatorial system. The English legal system was, during the colonial period, exposed around the world from the United States of America, to Australia and New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia, to Nigeria and most other Commonwealth countries,  with  local , secular and sometimes religious variations.

In R v Jacobs Kehinde (1927) Combe J., said, “The primary purpose of the criminal Code was to define offences and to prescribe penalties and I do not consider that I should be justified in assuming that the legislature intended that the very necessary and proper provisions regard procedure in section 6 of Lord Campell’s Act should cease to apply in Nigeria because those previsions were not incorporated in the Code.

Public Law

The Criminal law is an aspect of Public law. It is a specialized body of rules on treatment of conduct which the statues see to punish, prevent  or control. The state, as representatives of the society, acts positively to ensure enforcement. For this purpose, the state employs the police, Judges and magistrates, prosecutors and prisons. 

 Mens  rea

• Blackstone expressed the news that the condition precedent to criminal liability are:
  • Guilty mind plus moral blame
  • Actus reus

• Stephens (1883) expressed a contrary view arguing:

The maxim is frequently, through ignorantly supposed  to mean that these cannot be such a through as legal guilt whose these is  no moral guilt, which is obviously untrue, as these is always a possibility of a conflict between law and morals.

(c ) Cockburu CJ in R v sleep (181( held that “it is a principle of our law that to constitute an offence, these must be a guilty mind, and that the principles must be imported into the statue.

You should be careful not to be led to carry the doctrine further than necessary. These are crimes where normal and legal guilt coincide. Example is murder m stealing, robbery, rape etc. They are in mala in se. These are conduct that ‘may involve’ a husband raping  his  wife. Compare with normal guilty crime of absolute or crime of vicarious liability.

Crime mala prohibita have no moral stigma, e.g drug related crimes. These are crimes for which legal guilt is a precondition, eg  homosexuality. The criminal law should aim at greater concurrence between law and moral so that they can supplement and reinforce each other and factual observation of the law.

Assumption of Freewill

The classical orthodoxy is that an offender commits crime by choice and therefore should be deemed to intend the consequences of his act or omission.

The criminal code subscribe to the idea that an offender may sometime act involuntarily or act of force will. See section 24 of the criminal code general defence to crime.

• Act or Omission

The law defines crime or offence in terms of Acts or Omission. Assault involves bodily movement, like murder or arson. They are offences usually committed by “acts”. An omission to provide necessaries to an infant by somebody who has a duty to do so is criminally liable should the infant die as a result. A crime can be in part an act and in part an omission.

• Harm

The criminal law sticks to punish harm, e.g wounding, assault occasion harm etc. Act crime may cause harm. Whereas the event crime may or may not. Inchoate offences are punishable even if the desired results are impossible of achievement and no harm has occurred. Example is stealing from an empty pocket.

Strict and Absolute liability offences

Absolute liability Crimes

Absolute liability offences and strict liability offences are something wrongfully used interchangeably. Absolute liability offences are offence which admits of no defence. Whatever and no requirement of proof of mens rea. Strict liability offence admits defences, and proof that the offender has acted voluntarily.

Strict liability Crime

This is an exception to the mens rea rule that guilty intention is a precondition in crime. In strict liability crimes there is no mens rea, the fault element does not or need not correspond on the external element. It suffices that the forbidden conduct has occurred..

For example, when you drive dangerously, you commit offence. Your intention is immaterial.

Other Contents

There are other important features of administration of justice contained in the criminal law. Examples are :

• Presumption of innocence
• Burden of proof
• Protection against double jeopardy

 One process provision such as rules guarding arrest, bail, detention and fair Hearing

• Defence to criminal liability (general and partial)
• Penal measures     constructed     around     reformation     and rehabilitation of the

Conclusion

It should not be assumed that the criminal law in Nigeria follows the common law. What is of paramount consideration is the language of the statute creating the offence.

Summary

Criminal law is an aspect of police law. It has acts foundation  on common law; and provides for mens rea, act or omission (Actus reus) to crimes. There are also strict and absolute liability offences.

Tutor-Marked Assignment

Distinguish between Absolute and strict liability offences

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Slapper; G : The English Legal System, 7^th Ed, Cavendish Publishing Ltd India

FGN:   - The Criminal Code

-           The Penal Code

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria