PAPER 1 – MODULE 3 CRIMINAL LAW

1. Voluntary acts, omissions or state of affairs as well as particular consequences and/or particular
circumstances of an offence constitutes
a. Actus reus
b. Mens rea
c. Causation
d. Murder

2. For a person to be guilty of a crime by omission in English law there must be present
a. A duty to act
b. The crime must be capable of commission by omission
c. It must be a result crime
d. There must be a duty to act and a result crime

3. Factual causation means

a. It would have happened anyway
b. It would not have happened
c. It would not have happened but for D’s act
d. It happened because of D’s fault

4. Legal causation asks

a. Is it D’s fault?
b. Has D performed a culpable act?
c. Both (a) and (b)
d. (a) but not (b)

5. D, a drug dealer, supplies V with heroin, fills the syringe and hands it to her. She injects herself
and dies
a. V’s act breaks the change of causation and D is not guilty
b. D is guilty as he owes a duty of care by creating a dangerous situation
c. D is guilty of manslaughter because he supplied the heroin
d. D must take his victim as he finds her.

6. The existence of a duty of care, breach of that duty and gross negligence which the jury consider
justifies criminal liability describes which crime
a. Murder
b. Voluntary manslaughter
c. Involuntary manslaughter
d. Gross negligence manslaughter
7. Which is not one of the various tests of ‘attempt’?
a. Crossed the Rubicon and burnt his boat
b. On the job or on stage
c. The last act towards committing the crime proper
d. Caught in the act

8. Which of the following statement is not correct?

a. The actus reus of incitement is committed as soon as the incitement occurs
b. The incitement must be personally addressed to the persons to whom it comes
c. The incitement must come to the attention of the incite
d. There is no requirement that the incitement has any effect

9. ‘Defect of reason’ under the M’Naghten Rules applies to

a. People who are temporarily confused
b. People who are naturally absent-minded
c. People who habitually fail to use their power of reason to the full
d. People who are deprived of the power of reasoning

10. ‘Disease of the mind’ under the M’Naghten Rules is concerned with
a. Condition of the brain
b. Whether the condition is transitory or permanent
c. Whether the condition is curable or incurable
d. Reason, memory and understanding

11. Which of the following is not correct

a. D cuts a woman’s throat but thinks (because of his ‘defect of reason’) that he is cutting a
loaf of bread. INSANITY
b. D mistakenly takes a double dose of insulin, goes into hyperglycemia and kills. INSANITY
c. D chops off a sleeping man’s head because it would be amusing to see him looking for it
when he wakes up. INSANITY
d. D kills a man whom he believes, because of a paranoid delusion, to be possessed by
demons. CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE

12. D is walking along a road late at night and sees what he thinks is a large man about to attack him
with a club. It was actually an elderly woman with an umbrella. Can D rely on self-defence?
a. Yes. It does not matter that D wrongly imagined that a threat existed
b. No. It is required that D’s mistaken belief be based on reasonable grounds
c. No. D cannot use force to repel what is perfectly lawful behavior
d. No. D should have waited until he was actually attacked before using force

13. Which statement is incorrect?

 a. Someone is reckless if he takes unjustified risks?
b. Recklessness is determined by what the ordinary prudent individual would have
perceived
c. Recklessness is based on risk of which D is subjectively aware
d. R and G overruled the Caldwell test

14. What degree of probability is required before an undesired consequence becomes intention?
a. Reasonable probability
b. Highly probable
c. Virtually certain
d. A person intends the natural and probable consequences of his act

15. Which of the following defines transferred malice?

a. If D, with the required mens rea of a particular crime, does an act that causes the actus
reus of that crime, then he is liable.
b. It is no excuse to say that the way in which the actus reus was carried out was not
exactly as D intended it.
c. Thus, if D by mistake or bad judgment causes injury to the wrong person or property, he
may still be guilty of the offence he intended.
d. All of the above
 PAPER 2 – MODULE 3 CRIMINAL LAW

Answer ONE of the following:

1. (a) Using at least three cases, define the actus reus of attempt? [15 marks]

(b) Derrick decided to steal and break open the ATM of Neighbourhood Commerce Bank
(NCB) and went to Carl, a welder, to borrow his acetylene torch. Carl asks him why he wants the
torch and he told him, laughing, “Gonna break the bank.” Carl shows him how to use the torch
and told him good luck.

Giving reasons discuss whether Carl guilty of incitement. [10 marks]

2. a) Distinguish between the defences of automatism and insanity [10 marks]

(b) Discuss the ways in which intoxication may be a defence to criminal liability [15 marks]
Answer key to Paper 1

1. a
2. d
3. c
4. c
5. a
6. d
7. d
8. d
9. d
10. d
11. b
12. a
13. b
14. c
15. d