Читать книгу Criminal Law - Mark Thomas - Страница 56

As you will now know, from Chapter 1, the actus reus (plural: actus rei) is a legal term describing the external elements of a criminal offence (ie anything that is not the mens rea). It is concerned not only with the acts and conduct of the defendant, but also with certain surrounding circumstances and end results. Although the actus reus can be characterised as such, this does not mean that the actus reus is standardised. Each criminal offence bears with it a separate and distinct actus reus. Of course, this does not mean that a particular act or conduct on the part of the defendant can fulfil the actus reus of one crime but not the other. This ultimately depends on the circumstances or result that follows.

Suppose Jack shoots Jill. Should Jill survive, Jack is likely to have part of the actus reus for grievous bodily harm (GBH). Should Jill die, Jack has the same part of the actus reus for murder. The point is that the defendant’s behaviour can be characterised as the same in both cases, but the offence charged against the defendant will ultimately depend on the consequence of the defendant’s actions.