Read the text “English Criminal Law” and choose the right variant according to the text:

A crime according to the doctrine of the Common Law, is made up of an outward act and the state of mind of the criminal. He must have a guilty mind or mens rea, in addition to committing the physical act which is forbidden. This doctrine of mens rea is still of importance, particularly in some Common Law crimes, but in many statutory crimes it has ceased to be of much significance. Every crime, it may be said, has its own kind of guilty mind. This clearly exists if the intention is to commit the criminal act, knowing it to be such. But every person is taken to intend the probable consequences of his act and so a person who treats another so violently that he jumps out of a window to escape and is killed by the fall is guilty of murder. Sometimes mens rea may take the form of negligence or mental inadvertence, as in manslaughter by neglect. This phrase doesn’t imply that murder can be committed only if it is premeditated. An act is said in the criminal law to be done maliciously if it is done intentionally without a just cause for excuse.

What is a crime as the doctrine of the Common Law says?

Выберите один ответ:

a. it’s an illegal act

b. it’s the state of mind of the criminal

c. it’s both committing the physical act which is forbidden and the guilty mind of the criminal

d. it’s an outward act