Rex v. Scofield

Rex v. Scofield, Cald. 397 (1784), is a criminal law case that made attempt part of the common law, emphasizing the intent over the incomplete criminal act.[1] Scofield put a lit a candle and placed it into flammable material in a house with the intent to burn it down, but the larger fire apparently never happened.[1]:669 Finding crime in the incomplete but intended arson, Lord Mansfield held that "completion of an act, criminal in itself, [was not] necessary to constitute criminality", and "The intent may make an act, innocent in itself, criminal..."[1]:669

References

  1. 1 2 3 Criminal Law - Cases and Materials, 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan, Robert Weisberg, Guyora Binder, ISBN 978-1-4548-0698-1,
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.