Читать книгу Criminal Law - Mark Thomas - Страница 81

We are concerned with a recognised duty to act on the part of the individual, not merely a moral obligation or duty they may consider that they have. This principle is essential to distinguish those individuals whose failure to act is worthy of criminal repercussions and those who are clearly not deserving of such a criminal label. Whilst most individuals would baulk at the idea of a passer-by ignoring a child drowning in a lake, the criminal law is not concerned with such moral dilemmas. Instead, the law aims to pinpoint liability on those individuals where a specific and identifiable duty can be found, and not simply on an individual who chooses, as is their right, to walk by a drowning child with no relationship to, responsibility for, or association with, that child.