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Level 1 Law Criminal Law When investigating the grounds on which a defendant can be found criminally liable for an offence, the courts often apply the principle of actus reus (guilty act). This may include offences such as assault and harassment. Unlike other areas of law, criminal law requires that the accused acted with a guilty state of mind. This is refered to as mens rea. Fundamentally, a person cannot be convicted of an offence if he had made a genuine mistake. Application of mens rea in the courts has nothing to do with notions of evil,moral fault or knowledge of the wrongfulness of the act. Instead it refers to the state of mind expressly required by the definition of the offence charged. Therefore, this differs from offence to offence. Typical instances of mens rea include; the accused intended to cause the harm, or he/she foresaw that his/her actions may cause...

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