CRW2601 EXAM PACK 2026 COMPLETE EXAM
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
◉ Relative theories. Answer: Punishment is a means to a secondary
end.
◉ Theory of general deterrence. Answer: Effectiveness depends only
on the severity of the punishment imposed on an offender.
◉ Triad in Zinn. Answer: The crime, the criminal, and interests of
society, enabling a court to consider all theories of punishment when
imposing sentence.
◉ Elements of criminal liability. Answer: The correct sequence of
investigation is conduct, compliance with definitional elements,
culpability, and unlawfulness.
◉ Crimes vs. Delicts. Answer: Crimes are directed against public
interests, while delicts are directed against private interests.
◉ Principle of legality. Answer: A statutory provision complies best
if it contains a criminal norm only.
,◉ Ius praevium rule. Answer: The Constitutional Court in Masiya v
DPP 2007 (2) SACR 435 (CC) respected this rule regarding the
retrospective application of law.
◉ Principle of legality rules. Answer: Ius acceptum, ius praevium, ius
certum, and ius strictum are applicable to both the crime and the
punishment to be imposed.
◉ Ius acceptum rule. Answer: The Constitution contains a provision
which expressly sets out this rule.
◉ Voluntary conduct. Answer: Conduct is voluntary if it is willed.
◉ Relative force. Answer: Excludes X's ability to subject his bodily
movements to his will or intellect.
◉ Sane automatism. Answer: Refers to cases in which X relies on the
defence of mental illness.
◉ Antecedent liability. Answer: A qualification of the rule that bodily
movements performed in a condition of automatism do not result in
criminal liability.
,◉ Legal duty to act. Answer: There is a legal duty upon X to act
positively if the legal convictions of the community require him to do
so.
◉ Impossibility. Answer: Mere inconvenience in complying with a
legal duty did not constitute impossibility.
◉ Conditio sine qua non. Answer: An act is a conditio sine qua non
for a situation if the act can be thought away without the situation
disappearing at the same time.
◉ Negligent medical treatment. Answer: Negligent medical
treatment would not be regarded as a novus actus interveniens in a
situation where X deliberately inflicted an intrinsically fatal wound.
◉ Mental illness. Answer: Mental illness is a ground of justification
which excludes the unlawfulness of conduct.
◉ Private defence. Answer: X can rely on private defence if he
defends himself against an attack by an animal.
◉ Irrebuttable presumption. Answer: There is an irrebuttable
presumption that a child who is below the age of seven lacks
criminal capacity.
, ◉ Negligence test. Answer: The test for negligence is described as
objective because it is not concerned with what X actually thought or
knew or foresaw, but only with what a reasonable person in the
same circumstances would have foreseen.
◉ Error of judgment. Answer: The mere fact that somebody has
committed an error of judgment does not necessarily mean that he
was negligent.
◉ Culpable homicide. Answer: If X is charged with culpable
homicide, but the evidence brings to light that X acted intentionally,
he may still be convicted of culpable homicide provided his conduct
did not measure up to the standard of the reasonable person.
◉ Principle of contemporaneity. Answer: The principle of
contemporaneity means that there must have been culpability on
the part of X at the very moment when the unlawful act was
committed.
◉ Mistake in causation. Answer: Mistake relating to the chain of
causation may exclude intention provided that the actual chain of
events differed materially from that envisaged by the perpetrator.
◉ Good motive. Answer: A good motive always excludes intention.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
◉ Relative theories. Answer: Punishment is a means to a secondary
end.
◉ Theory of general deterrence. Answer: Effectiveness depends only
on the severity of the punishment imposed on an offender.
◉ Triad in Zinn. Answer: The crime, the criminal, and interests of
society, enabling a court to consider all theories of punishment when
imposing sentence.
◉ Elements of criminal liability. Answer: The correct sequence of
investigation is conduct, compliance with definitional elements,
culpability, and unlawfulness.
◉ Crimes vs. Delicts. Answer: Crimes are directed against public
interests, while delicts are directed against private interests.
◉ Principle of legality. Answer: A statutory provision complies best
if it contains a criminal norm only.
,◉ Ius praevium rule. Answer: The Constitutional Court in Masiya v
DPP 2007 (2) SACR 435 (CC) respected this rule regarding the
retrospective application of law.
◉ Principle of legality rules. Answer: Ius acceptum, ius praevium, ius
certum, and ius strictum are applicable to both the crime and the
punishment to be imposed.
◉ Ius acceptum rule. Answer: The Constitution contains a provision
which expressly sets out this rule.
◉ Voluntary conduct. Answer: Conduct is voluntary if it is willed.
◉ Relative force. Answer: Excludes X's ability to subject his bodily
movements to his will or intellect.
◉ Sane automatism. Answer: Refers to cases in which X relies on the
defence of mental illness.
◉ Antecedent liability. Answer: A qualification of the rule that bodily
movements performed in a condition of automatism do not result in
criminal liability.
,◉ Legal duty to act. Answer: There is a legal duty upon X to act
positively if the legal convictions of the community require him to do
so.
◉ Impossibility. Answer: Mere inconvenience in complying with a
legal duty did not constitute impossibility.
◉ Conditio sine qua non. Answer: An act is a conditio sine qua non
for a situation if the act can be thought away without the situation
disappearing at the same time.
◉ Negligent medical treatment. Answer: Negligent medical
treatment would not be regarded as a novus actus interveniens in a
situation where X deliberately inflicted an intrinsically fatal wound.
◉ Mental illness. Answer: Mental illness is a ground of justification
which excludes the unlawfulness of conduct.
◉ Private defence. Answer: X can rely on private defence if he
defends himself against an attack by an animal.
◉ Irrebuttable presumption. Answer: There is an irrebuttable
presumption that a child who is below the age of seven lacks
criminal capacity.
, ◉ Negligence test. Answer: The test for negligence is described as
objective because it is not concerned with what X actually thought or
knew or foresaw, but only with what a reasonable person in the
same circumstances would have foreseen.
◉ Error of judgment. Answer: The mere fact that somebody has
committed an error of judgment does not necessarily mean that he
was negligent.
◉ Culpable homicide. Answer: If X is charged with culpable
homicide, but the evidence brings to light that X acted intentionally,
he may still be convicted of culpable homicide provided his conduct
did not measure up to the standard of the reasonable person.
◉ Principle of contemporaneity. Answer: The principle of
contemporaneity means that there must have been culpability on
the part of X at the very moment when the unlawful act was
committed.
◉ Mistake in causation. Answer: Mistake relating to the chain of
causation may exclude intention provided that the actual chain of
events differed materially from that envisaged by the perpetrator.
◉ Good motive. Answer: A good motive always excludes intention.
