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"The general principle remains that a person is not guilty for omitting to do something." Discuss.
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- Thu Jul 11 2002

... Ayesha "The general principle remains that a person is not guilty for omitting to do something." Discuss. The law will punish someone if they are under a duty to act but omit to do so. It must be decided, however, whether in law you are dealing with an act or an omission. There are three types of situations where this question comes up; continuing acts, supervening faults, and euthanasia. In continuing acts the concept was used in the Fagan case (1969), where the defendant drove over the policeman's foot. At the time, the defendant did not have the mens rea for driving over the policeman's foot, which therefore, was an omission and not an act. He had the mens rea when he was on the foot and would not move. It was held that driving on the policeman's foot and staying there was a continuous act, followed by an omission, and during














