CRW2601 EXAM PACK 2022

CRW2601 EXAM PACK 2022. Name the four general requirements of criminal liability (4) Act or conduct Compliance with the definitional elements of a crime Unlawfulness Culpability Define the principle of legality. An accused may (1) not be convicted of a crime – (a) unless the type of conduct with which she is charged has been recognised by the law as a crime (b) in clear terms (c) before the conduct took place (d) without it being necessary to interpret the words in the definition of the crime broadly in order to cover the accused’s conduct; and (2) if convicted, not be sentenced unless the sentence also complies with the four requirements set out above (a) X, a fifteen-year- old girl is a party-animal. She is also an alcoholic and is placed into a rehabilitation centre by her parents for a month. Two weeks after being placed in rehabilitation, X escapes from the centre. Is X guilty of a crime? Discuss the ius acceptum principle with reference to applicable case law. (7) Ius acceptum implies that a court can only find an accused guilty of a crime if the kind of act performed by the accused is recognised by the law as a crime .This explicitly show that a court cannot create crime in accordance to the ius acceptum rule. The word ius means law and acceptum means which has been received. Ius acceptum refers to common law and statutory law. In M it was held by Kotze J that the court do not possess the Questionsand Answers power to create crimes upon the ground that in our view the conduct in clearly contrary to good morals and our courts are not guardians of morals. This shows that if there is no provision of the common law declaring that certain conduct constitutes an offence whence no crime have been committed and the courts have held that there can be no crime. In the set of facts, the fifteen year old girl who was detained to a rehabilitation centre and escaped, by escaping (conduct) the girls conduct does not constitutes a crime in the sense that this kind of conduct is not recognised by the as a crime its contrary to the morals of the society In M the court stated that if there is a need to make which in immoral to society punishable, it is the duty of the legislature to declare such conduct punishable. In a nutshell, the girls conduct is not declared by the legislation as a crime so she did not commit any crime. c) In June 2015, X is charged with drunken driving, a crime which he had allegedly committed in September 2014. Assume that, at that time (in 2014), legislation provided that a first offender could not be sent to prison for a conviction of drunken driving. However, in February 2015 the legislature amended the legislation, giving the courts discretion to send a first offender convicted of drunken driving to prison for a period not exceeding six months. X, a first offender, is convicted of the crime of drunken driving. The court, relying on the new legislation, sentences him to a period of three months’ imprisonment. Discuss whether the punishment imposed by the court may be challenged on the ground that it violates the principle of legality. The punishment of imprisonment imposed on X may be challenged on the grounds that it violates the ius praevium rule. In the context of punishment, this principle means that a more severe punishment may not be imposed on a person than the CRW2601 Revision pack punishment that could be imposed at the time of the commission of the offence. In terms of section 35(3)(n) of the Constitution , punishment which is increased after the commission of a crime, may not be imposed to the detriment of an accused. Consequently, the sentence imposed by the court violates the ius praevium rule thus X cannot be sentenced to three months imprisonment. (b) Briefly explain what is meant by the term “automatism” and give two examples. (4) Automatism is where a person behaves in a mechanical fashion that’s is the person muscular movements are reminiscent of the mechanical behaviour of an automaton which amount to involuntary movement /conduct. Examples are an epileptic fit and somnambulism. Discuss the defence of automatism. Your answer must include (i) examples from the case law of cases in which this defence succeeded; Answer (a) AUTOMATISM - A person acts in a state of automatism if he acts in a mechanical fashion. Examples of such instances are reflex movements such as heart palpitations or a sneezing fit and A person who acts in a state of automatism does not act voluntarily. (i) Dlamini's case - X killed Y while under influence of the nightmare. Mkize's case - X killed Y while he was having an epileptic fit. Du Plessis's case - an experienced driver had a mental “blackout”.