Mens rea definition

Mens rea means the mental state required for crime. Crimes that require mens rea are crimes of specific or general intent. Crimes that do not require mens rea are crimes of strict liability.
Sample 1Sample 2
Mens rea means the state of mind that by law must be proven to convict a particular defendant of a particular crime. There are several such mental states in the law applied by Federal courts. Two common mental states are "knowingly" and "willfully." A defendant acts "knowingly" with respect to an element of the offense if he or she has knowledge of the essential facts comprising that element. In addition, a defendant "willfully" violates a statute if he or she acts with a "bad purpose" that is with "knowledge that his [or her] conduct is unlawful." Model Criminal Jury Instructions (3d Cir. 2018), ch. 5, sec. 5.02 cmt. (quotation marks omitted). By contrast, strict liability offenses do not require the government to prove mens rea. For instance, the jury instructions for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit note that "[s]ome federal crimes are also strict or absolute liability offenses, without any mental state requirement." Id. at ch. 5, General Introduction to Mental State Instructions.
Sample 1Sample 2
Mens rea means a guilty mind; guilty knowledge and willfulness. (Black’s Law Dictionary (6th ed.) (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1990).)without clear permission to do so. The Board reminds both Parties that good communication is essential and Parties need to be forthright and proactive in dealing with environmental contaminants. Such communication is required for the proper functioning of the regulatory scheme.[54] Further, during the testimony of the Director he explained how Alberta Environment is divided into two sides: an approval side and an enforcement side. According to the Director, the “approval side” is responsible for issuing approvals and registrations, deals with approval and registration holders on a day to day basis, and is under the direction of a different “Director”.42 The “enforcement side”, for which the Director is responsible in this part of the Province, deals with, among other things, violations of the Act. The Director advised that he is responsible for directing investigations, interpreting the legislation with respect to making enforcement decisions, and for deciding what the appropriate enforcement response should be. The Director pointed to this “division of labour” as an explanation for the confusion at Alberta Environment as to what type of authorization was required in this situation.[55] The Board does not accept this explanation. While the Board agrees that it is the responsibility of the Director to interpret the legislation with respect to making enforcement decisions and deciding what the appropriate enforcement response should be, this does not provide sufficient explanation about the confusion as to what type of authorization is required in this situation. In providing direction regarding the regulatory scheme, Alberta Environment should speak with one voice. While it is certainly the responsibility of the Appellant to ultimately obtain the appropriate authorization, Alberta Environment should have been able to provide a more definitive and timely response when the Appellant made application for an authorization. Just as good communication is required between the proponent of a project and Alberta Environment, good communication is also required between the approval side and the enforcement side within Alberta Environment. Again, such communication is required for the proper functioning of the regulatory scheme.
Sample 1

Examples of Mens rea in a sentence

  • Mens rea is referred to as the mental element (ie the guilty mind) that is required to be proved in respect of a particular crime.

  • Mens rea standards can be helpful in distinguishing harmful from valuable conduct.

  • Mens rea, which is only amplifying the intent in clause 17(b), as argued by the Secretary (Legislative Department) is generally used in Criminal and taxation laws, but in compensation cases the use of this doctrine is grossly inadequate and misplaced.

  • Strict liability- Absolute liability, Mistake of Law, Mistake of Fact and accidents, Mens rea (guilty mind), Exceptions to mens rea.

  • The composite reliability criterion value> 0.7 indicates that the variable has good internal consistency.

  • Mens rea, the subjective culpable awareness required to establish criminal responsibility, is analyzed using fundamental common law principles of criminal responsibility, as interpreted and developed in the jurisprudence.

  • Mens rea in relation to consent is therefore proven.26 In these circumstances, “reasonable steps” analysis is a classic “red herring;” it adds nothing, changes nothing, is superfluous, and wastes the court’s time.

  • Unit 5 Liability : Nature of Liability, Elements-Motive; Intention (Mens rea), Negligence : subjective and objective theories of Negligence.

  • Mens rea words have on occasion been interpreted to permit a defense in the case of good faith mistakes about the meaning of the criminal law.

  • Genocide as well has the two elements of mens rea and acts reus that set out the ground rules of the trial, determine what must be proved by prosecution for a case to succeed.29 Mens rea in case of genocide is , ‘the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such’ and the criminal acts or the acts reus are the acts listed from a-e above.


More Definitions of Mens rea

Mens rea means __________.
Sample 1
Mens rea means awareness of the nature of the act, of the existence of the circumstances and of the possibility of the consequences of the act being brought about, such nature, circumstances and consequences being ingredients of the offence, and as regards the consequences, means also one of the following: (1) "intention" to bring about the consequences;(2) "Recklessness," being one of:
Sample 1
Mens rea means fault on the part of the accused and may take the form of either intention (dolus) or negligence (culpa);
Sample 1
Mens rea means state of mind, as required to form intent to commit any civil or criminal offense. “Non-native” means any person who is not an enrolled member of a Federally-Recognized Indian Tribe.
Sample 1
Mens rea means ‘a guilty mind’ while culpability must, in the eyes of the law, be grounds for blaming the perpetrator personally for his or her unlawful conduct.
Sample 1
Mens rea means, literally, a guilty mind. It is a cardinal principle of English Common Law that a person cannot be convicted and punished in a proceeding of a criminal nature unless it can shown that he had a guilty mind. This principle is self explanatory. A person should be punished for deliberate defiance of law, rather than something which he did not intentionally or something which happened accidently. Nevertheless, this principle is most misconceived. In certain offences, called “statutory offences”, it is argued that mens rea is not required. Taxation offences are statutory offences. Natural corollary should follow. In Gujarat Travancore7, the Supreme Court held that ‘mens rea’ is not an essential ingredient for imposing a penalty unless statute specifically
Sample 1

Related to Mens rea

  • Sailboat means the same as that term is defined in Section 73-18-2.

  • Roomer means a person occupying a dwelling unit that lacks a major bathroom or kitchen facility, in a structure where one or more major facilities are used in common by occupants of the dwelling unit and other dwelling units. Major facility in the case of a bathroom means toilet, or either a bath or shower, and in the case of a kitchen means refrigerator, stove or sink.

  • Water Infrastructure Charge means such a charge as is described in section 146(2)(a) of the Water Industry Act 1991;

  • Stormwater management planning area means the geographic area for which a stormwater management planning agency is authorized to prepare stormwater management plans, or a specific portion of that area identified in a stormwater management plan prepared by that agency.

  • MECOD refers to the Multiple Exchange Carriers Ordering and Design Guidelines for Access Services - Industry Support Interface, a document developed by the Ordering/Provisioning Committee of the OBF, which functions under the auspices of the CLC of ATIS. The MECOD document, published by ATIS as ATIS/OBF- MECAB- Issue 3, February 1993, establishes methods for processing orders for access service which is to be provided to an IXC by two or more telecommunications providers.

  • Contract feeder means a person who as an independent contractor, feeds commercial feed to animals pursuant to a contract whereby such commercial feed is supplied, furnished or otherwise provided to such person and whereby such person’s remuneration is determined all or in part by feed consumption, mortality, profits or amount or quality of product.

  • Sewage sludge fee weight means the weight of sewage sludge, in dry U.S. tons, excluding admixtures such as liming materials or bulking agents. Annual sewage sludge fees, as per section 3745.11(Y) of the Ohio Revised Code, are based on the reported sludge fee weight for the most recent calendar year.

  • Adult motion picture theater means an enclosed building with a capacity of fifty (50) or more persons regularly used for presenting materials having as a dominant theme or presenting material distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas" as defined below, for observation by any means by patrons therein.

  • Stormwater runoff means water flow on the surface of the ground or in storm sewers, resulting from precipitation.

  • Stormwater management system means any equipment, plants,

  • Hard cider means the same as that term is defined in 26 U.S.C. Sec. 5041.

  • Stormwater management BMP means an excavation or embankment and related areas designed to retain stormwater runoff. A stormwater management BMP may either be normally dry (that is, a detention basin or infiltration system), retain water in a permanent pool (a retention basin), or be planted mainly with wetland vegetation (most constructed stormwater wetlands).

  • Urgent Care means treatment for a condition that is not a threat to life or limb but does require prompt medical attention. Also, the severity of an urgent condition does not necessitate a trip to the hospital emergency room. An Urgent Care facility is a freestanding facility that is not a physician’s office and which provides Urgent Care.

  • Stormwater management plan means the set of drawings and other documents that comprise all the information and specifications for the programs, drainage systems, structures, BMPs, concepts and techniques intended to maintain or restore quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to pre-development levels.

  • Inpatient care means treatment for which the insured person has to stay in a hospital for more than 24 hours for a covered event.

  • Transportation project or "project" means any or the

  • In Patient Care means treatment for which the insured person has to stay in a hospital for more than 24 hours for a covered event.

  • 911 Trunk A trunk capable of transmitting a 9-1-1 dialed call to the Selective Router, and used for the single purpose of transmission of 9-1-1 calls in accordance with applicable NENA Standards. Access Service Request (ASR): The Ordering and Billing Forum document designated by CenturyLink to be used by the Parties to add, establish, change or disconnect services or trunks for the purpose of providing special access, Switched Access Services, and Interconnection. Access Services: Interstate and intrastate Switched Access Services, Special Access and/or Private Line services, as appropriate. Act or the Act: The Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and as amended from time to time and codified at 47 ACTL: Access Customer Terminal Location as defined by Telcordia.

  • Opium poppy means the plant of the species Papaver somniferum L., except its seeds.

  • Conventional filtration treatment means a series of processes including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration resulting in substantial particulate removal.

  • apron means a defined area intended to accommodate aircraft for purposes of loading or unloading passengers, mail or cargo, fuelling, parking or maintenance;

  • Brewer means a person engaged in manufacturing:

  • Underground storage means storage of gas in a subsurface stratum or formation of the earth.

  • Double Phase Aerosol Air Freshener means an aerosol air freshener with the liquid contents in two or more distinct phases that requires the product container be shaken before use to mix the phases, producing an emulsion.

  • kWp means kilo-Watt Peak;

  • Monte Titoli means Monte Titoli S.p.A.