Ignorance of The Law and mens Rea
The general rule under common law is that "ignorance of the law or a mistake of law is no defense to criminal prosecution." In some cases, courts have held if knowledge of a law, or the intent to break a law, is a material element of an offense a defendant may use ignorance as a defense to willfulness if his misunderstanding is in good faith:
The proliferation of statutes and regulations has sometimes made it difficult for the average citizen to know and comprehend the extent of the duties and obligations imposed by the tax laws. . . . he Court almost 60 years ago interpreted the statutory term "willfully" as used in federal criminal tax statutes as carving out an exception to the traditional rule."Crimes like tax evasion are specific intent crimes and require intent to violate the law as an element of the offense. Not all offenses require specific intent, and a misreading, even in good faith, may not excuse the criminal conduct. A good-faith belief that a law is unjust or unconstitutional is no excuse, but "reasonable compliance upon an official statement of law, afterward determined to be invalid or erroneous" does not constitute a criminal act.
Read more about this topic: Mens Rea
Famous quotes containing the words ignorance of, ignorance and/or law:
“The media no longer ask those who know something ... to share that knowledge with the public. Instead they ask those who know nothing to represent the ignorance of the public and, in so doing, to legitimate it.”
—Serge Daney (1944–1992)
“A seeming ignorance is very often a most necessary part of worldly knowledge. It is, for instance, commonly advisable to seem ignorant of what people offer to tell you; and, when they say, Have you not heard of such a thing? to answer, No, and to let them go on, though you know it already.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Making it a valid law to learn by suffering.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)