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49-640: An Act of Attainder was brought against the Marquess of Exeter and he was found guilty of treason by his peers in Westminster Hall , along with other supposed conspirators. Some sources suggest the conspiracy was largely exaggerated by Thomas Cromwell , at this point Vicegerent, Lord Privy Seal, Principal Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer , and Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich , the protege of Thomas Audley. Victorian historian J. A. Froude , however, writes that

98-1054: A criminal venture or involvement in criminality that does not actually come to fruition. Some examples are aiding, abetting, conspiracy , and attempt. However, in Scotland, the English concept of Aiding and Abetting is known as Art and Part Liability . See Glanville Williams, Textbook of Criminal Law, (London: Stevens & Sons, 1983); Glanville Williams, Criminal Law the General Part (London: Stevens & Sons, 1961). While crimes are typically broken into degrees or classes to punish appropriately, all offenses can be divided into 'mala in se' and 'mala prohibita' laws. Both are Latin legal terms, mala in se meaning crimes that are thought to be inherently evil or morally wrong, and thus will be widely regarded as crimes regardless of jurisdiction. Mala in se offenses are felonies, property crimes, immoral acts and corrupt acts by public officials. Mala prohibita , on

147-531: A danger (though he did not) is tantamount to erasing intent as a requirement. In this way, the importance of mens rea has been reduced in some areas of the criminal law but is obviously still an important part in the criminal system. Wrongfulness of intent also may vary the seriousness of an offense and possibly reduce the punishment but this is not always the case. A killing committed with specific intent to kill or with conscious recognition that death or serious bodily harm will result, would be murder, whereas

196-439: A dangerous situation. On the other hand, it was held in the U.K. that switching off the life support of someone in a persistent vegetative state is an omission to act and not criminal. Since discontinuation of power is not a voluntary act, not grossly negligent, and is in the patient's best interests, no crime takes place. In this case it was held that since a PVS patient could not give or withhold consent to medical treatment, it

245-484: A day to life. Government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest , and convicts may be required to conform to particularized guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen. Fines also may be imposed, seizing money or property from a person convicted of a crime. Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the criminal law by punishments : retribution , deterrence , incapacitation , rehabilitation and restoration . Jurisdictions differ on

294-539: A defendant acted negligently , rather than intentionally or recklessly . In offenses of absolute liability , other than the prohibited act, it may not be necessary to show the act was intentional. Generally, crimes must include an intentional act, and "intent" is an element that must be proved in order to find a crime occurred. The idea of a "strict liability crime" is an oxymoron. The few exceptions are not truly crimes at all – but are administrative regulations and civil penalties created by statute, such as crimes against

343-458: A half years under severe conditions; she, her grandson (Montagu's son), and Exeter's son were held together and supported by the King. In 1540, Cromwell himself fell from favour and was himself executed and attainted for his support of Anne of Cleves. Margaret Pole was finally executed in 1541 (her execution was dreadfully botched and horrifying even for those brutal times), protesting her innocence until

392-410: A killing effected by reckless acts lacking such a consciousness could be manslaughter. On the other hand, it matters not who is actually harmed through a defendant's actions. The doctrine of transferred malice means, for instance, that if a man intends to strike a person with his belt, but the belt bounces off and hits another, mens rea is transferred from the intended target to the person who actually

441-543: A legislative act outlawing a fugitive (a bill of attainder ). The last form is obsolete in England (and prohibited in the United States), and the other forms have been abolished . Medieval and Renaissance English monarchs used acts of attainder to deprive nobles of their lands and often their lives. Once attainted, the descendants of the noble could no longer inherit their lands or income. Attainder essentially amounted to

490-411: A lesser crime. A person attainted need not have been convicted of treason in a court of law; one use of the attainder process was a method of declaring a person a fugitive . Another was applying collateral consequences of criminal conviction (especially property forfeiture) where the suspects had died and hence could not stand trial. A rumour circulated that a bill of attainder against Thomas Jefferson

539-440: A person executed for a crime leaves innocent children, the property of the criminal is forfeited to the crown and will not pass to the children. If the criminal's innocent parent outlives their child, the property inherited by the parent from the criminal cannot be inherited by the criminal's children either; instead, it will be distributed among other family members. The United States Constitution prohibits corruption of blood as

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588-490: A punishment for treason, (specifically, "no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted") and when Congress passed the first federal crime bill in 1790, it prohibited corruption of blood as a punishment for any federal crime. In England and Wales , corruption of blood was abolished by the Corruption of Blood Act 1814 . Criminal law Criminal law

637-459: A serious capital crime ( felony or treason ). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary titles , but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs . Anyone condemned of capital crimes could be attainted. Attainder by confession resulted from a guilty plea at the bar before judges or before the coroner in sanctuary . Attainder by verdict resulted from conviction by jury . Attainder by process resulted from

686-438: A victim is particularly vulnerable. This is known as the thin skull rule . However, it may be broken by an intervening act ( novus actus interveniens ) of a third party, the victim's own conduct, or another unpredictable event. A mistake in medical treatment typically will not sever the chain, unless the mistakes are in themselves "so potent in causing death." Mens rea is another Latin phrase, meaning "guilty mind". This

735-456: Is a legal duty to act. For example, the act of A striking B might suffice, or a parent's failure to give food to a young child also may provide the actus reus for a crime. Where the actus reus is a failure to act, there must be a duty of care . A duty can arise through contract , a voluntary undertaking, a blood relation with whom one lives, and occasionally through one's official position. Duty also can arise from one's own creation of

784-405: Is a lesser variety of killing committed in the absence of malice , brought about by reasonable provocation , or diminished capacity . Involuntary manslaughter , where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, recklessness. Settled insanity is a possible defense. Many criminal codes protect the physical integrity of the body. The crime of battery

833-448: Is composed of criminal elements . Capital punishment may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or corporal punishment may be imposed such as whipping or caning , although these punishments are prohibited in much of the world. Individuals may be incarcerated in prison or jail in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Confinement may be solitary. Length of incarceration may vary from

882-428: Is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or rehabilitation . Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the offender . The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law . The first written codes of law were designed by

931-483: Is of their kin". They were committed to the Tower of London. In November 1538, Sir Edward Neville was executed for treason. In January 1539, Sir Geoffrey was pardoned, and Montagu and Exeter were tried and executed for treason, while Reginald Pole was attainted in absentia . In May 1539, Montagu, Exeter, Lady Salisbury, and others were also attainted, as her father had been; this meant that they lost their lands – mostly in

980-513: Is the body of law that relates to crime . It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property , health , safety , and welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute , which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature . Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate such laws. Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction , and differs from civil law , where emphasis

1029-449: Is the mental element of the crime. A guilty mind means an intention to commit some wrongful act. Intention under criminal law is separate from a person's motive (although motive does not exist in Scots law). A lower threshold of mens rea is satisfied when a defendant recognizes an act is dangerous but decides to commit it anyway. This is recklessness . It is the mental state of mind of

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1078-400: Is traditionally understood as an unlawful touching, although this does not include everyday knocks and jolts to which people silently consent as the result of presence in a crowd. Creating a fear of imminent battery is an assault , and also may give rise to criminal liability. Non-consensual intercourse , or rape , is a particularly egregious form of battery. Property often is protected by

1127-722: The Sumerians . Around 2100–2050 BC Ur-Nammu , the Neo-Sumerian king of Ur , enacted written legal code whose text has been discovered: the Code of Ur-Nammu although an earlier code of Urukagina of Lagash ( 2380–2360 BC ) is also known to have existed. Another important early code was the Code of Hammurabi , which formed the core of Babylonian law . Only fragments of the early criminal laws of Ancient Greece have survived, e.g. those of Solon and Draco . In Roman law , Gaius 's Commentaries on

1176-554: The Twelve Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, treating theft ( furtum ) as a tort . Assault and violent robbery were analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by payment of monetary compensation or damages . The criminal law of imperial Rome is collected in Books 47–48 of the Digest . After

1225-469: The mens rea or guilty mind . As to crimes of which both actus reus and mens rea are requirements, judges have concluded that the elements must be present at precisely the same moment and it is not enough that they occurred sequentially at different times. Actus reus is Latin for " guilty act " and is the physical element of committing a crime. It may be accomplished by an action, by threat of action, or exceptionally, by an omission to act, which

1274-528: The Courtenays were 'petty sovereigns in Devonshire and Cornwall', which may go some way to explaining the true nature of the conspiracy. Yet there is evidence to suggest that Courtenay had the means and intended to muster a rebellion against the King. The charges brought against him were based on the illegal correspondence he had with Reginald Pole , who was both a Catholic Cardinal and a possible Yorkist claimant to

1323-473: The English throne, and the confession and testimony of Geoffrey Pole , Reginald's brother. The king, with Reginald Pole himself out of his reach, took revenge on Pole's family for engaging in treason by word against the king. The leading family members and even Pole's mother, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury , were executed, and all their properties seized. The action destroyed the Pole family. Sir Geoffrey Pole

1372-559: The Piedmontese lawyer and statesman Giulio Claro (1525–1575). The development of the state dispensing justice in a court clearly emerged in the eighteenth century when European countries began maintaining police services. From this point, criminal law formalized the mechanisms for enforcement, which allowed for its development as a discernible entity. Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious, potential consequences or sanctions for failure to abide by its rules. Every crime

1421-558: The South of England, conveniently located to assist any invasion – and titles, and those still alive in the Tower were also sentenced to death, so could be executed at the King's will. As part of the evidence given in support of the Bill of Attainder, Cromwell produced a tunic bearing the Five Wounds of Christ , symbolising Lady Salisbury's support of Roman Catholicism and the rule of Reginald and Mary ;

1470-496: The United States Constitution provides that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed by Congress, and forbids states from passing them. Corruption of blood is one of the consequences of attainder. The descendants of an attainted person could not inherit either from the attainted person (whose property had been forfeited by the attainder) or through their other relatives from them. For example, if

1519-516: The act itself. For this reason, it can be argued that offenses that are mala prohibita are not really crimes at all. Public international law deals extensively and increasingly with criminal conduct that is heinous and ghastly enough to affect entire societies and regions. The formative source of modern international criminal law was the Nuremberg trials following the Second World War in which

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1568-550: The criminal law. Trespassing is unlawful entry onto the real property of another. Many criminal codes provide penalties for conversion , embezzlement , and theft , all of which involve deprivations of the value of the property. Robbery is a theft by force. Fraud in the UK is a breach of the Fraud Act 2006 by false representation, by failure to disclose information or by abuse of position. Some criminal codes criminalize association with

1617-446: The last – a highly publicised case which was considered a grave miscarriage of justice both at the time and later. Reginald Pole is known to have said that he would "...never fear to call himself the son of a martyr". Some 350 years later, in 1886, Margaret was beatified by Pope Leo XIII . Attainder In English criminal law , attainder was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for

1666-414: The legal death of the attainted's family. Monarchs typically used attainders against political enemies and those who posed potential threats to the king's position and security. The attainder eliminated any advantage the noble would have in a court of law; nobles were exempt from many of the techniques used to try commoners , including torture . Likewise, in many cases of attainder, the king could coerce

1715-437: The other hand, refers to offenses that do not have wrongfulness associated with them. Parking in a restricted area, driving the wrong way down a one-way street, jaywalking or unlicensed fishing are examples of acts that are prohibited by statute, but without which are not considered wrong. Mala prohibita statutes are usually imposed strictly, as there does not need to be mens rea component for punishment under those offenses, just

1764-579: The parliament into approving the attainder and there would be a lower or non-existent burden of proof (evidence) than there would be in court. Prior to the Tudors , most rulers reversed their attainders in return for promises of loyalty. For example, Henry VI reversed all 21 attainders, Edward IV 86 of 120, and Richard III 99 of 100. However, this changed with Henry VII , as described below. Rulers who used attainder include: Once attainted, nobles were considered commoners, and as such, could be subjected to

1813-419: The patient would die. An actus reus may be nullified by an absence of causation . For example, a crime involves harm to a person, the person's action must be the but for cause and proximate cause of the harm. If more than one cause exists (e.g. harm comes at the hands of more than one culprit) the act must have "more than a slight or trifling link" to the harm. Causation is not broken simply because

1862-417: The person at the time the actus reus was committed. For instance, if C tears a gas meter from a wall to get the money inside, and knows this will let flammable gas escape into a neighbour's house, he could be liable for poisoning. Courts often consider whether the actor did recognize the danger, or alternatively ought to have recognized a risk. Of course, a requirement only that one ought to have recognized

1911-536: The requirement of an actus reus or guilty act . Some crimes – particularly modern regulatory offenses – require no more, and they are known as strict liability offenses (E.g. Under the Road traffic Act 1988 it is a strict liability offence to drive a vehicle with an alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit). Nevertheless, because of the potentially severe consequences of criminal conviction, judges at common law also sought proof of an intent to do some bad thing,

1960-667: The revival of Roman law in the 12th century, sixth-century Roman classifications and jurisprudence provided the foundations of the distinction between criminal and civil law in European law from then until the present time. The first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England. The special notion of criminal penalty, at least concerning Europe, arose in Spanish Late Scholasticism (see Alfonso de Castro ), when

2009-472: The same treatments, including torture and methods of execution . For example, commoners could be burned at the stake , whereas nobles could not. Often, nobles would refer to the act of being attainted (and then executed) as the person's "destruction". In the Westminster system , a bill of attainder was a bill passed by Parliament to attaint persons who were accused of high treason , or, in rare cases,

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2058-477: The supposed discovery, six months after her house and effects had been searched when she was arrested, is likely to be a fabrication. In 1539, Sir Nicholas Carew , formerly something of a favourite of the king, fell out with him and was arrested and executed. At his trial it was alleged he had conspired for Exeter. Margaret Pole, as the Countess of Salisbury was now called, was held in the Tower of London for two and

2107-548: The theological notion of God's penalty (poena aeterna) that was inflicted solely for a guilty mind, became transfused into canon law first and, finally, to secular criminal law. Codifiers and architects of Early Modern criminal law were the German jurist Benedikt Carpzov (1595–1666), professor of law in Leipzig , and two Italians, the Roman judge and lawyer Prospero Farinacci (1544–1618) and

2156-458: The traffic or highway code. A murder , defined broadly, is an unlawful killing. Unlawful killing is probably the act most frequently targeted by the criminal law. In many jurisdictions , the crime of murder is divided into various gradations of severity, e.g., murder in the first degree , based on intent . Malice is a required element of murder. Manslaughter (Culpable Homicide in Scotland)

2205-432: The value to be placed on each. Many laws are enforced by threat of criminal punishment , and the range of the punishment varies with the jurisdiction. The scope of criminal law is too vast to catalog intelligently. Nevertheless, the following are some of the more typical aspects of criminal law. The criminal law generally prohibits undesirable acts . Thus, proof of a crime requires proof of some act. Scholars label this

2254-820: Was arrested in August 1538; he had been corresponding with Reginald, and the investigation of Henry Courtenay, Marquess of Exeter (Henry VIII's first cousin and Reginald Pole's second cousin) had turned up his name; he had appealed to Thomas Cromwell, who had him arrested and interrogated. Under interrogation, Sir Geoffrey said that Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (his eldest brother), and Exeter had been parties to his correspondence with Reginald. Montagu, Exeter, Sir Edward Neville and Lady Salisbury were arrested in November 1538, together with Henry Pole and other family members, on charges of treason, although Cromwell had previously written that they had "little offended save that he [Reginald Pole]

2303-451: Was for the doctors to decide whether treatment was in the patient's best interest. It was reasonable for them to conclude that treatment was not in the patient's best interest, and should therefore be stopped, when there was no prospect of improvement. It has always been illegal to take active steps to cause or accelerate death, although in certain circumstances it was lawful to withhold life sustaining treatment, including feeding, without which

2352-624: Was raised in 1774 following his authorship of A Summary View of the Rights of British America . The last bill of attainder passed in Britain was against Lord Edward FitzGerald , after his death in 1798; that provided for forfeiture of his estate. Attainders by confession, verdict and process were abolished in the United Kingdom by the Forfeiture Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict., c.23). Article One of

2401-495: Was struck.[Note: The notion of transferred intent does not exist within Scots' Law. In Scotland, one would not be charged with assault due to transferred intent, but instead assault due to recklessness. Strict liability can be described as criminal or civil liability notwithstanding the lack of mens rea or intent by the defendant. Not all crimes require specific intent, and the threshold of culpability required may be reduced or demoted. For example, it might be sufficient to show that

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