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:
““We should have to be God ourselves!”MWith a phrase so startling as this yet ringing in my ears, I nevertheless venture to demand if this our present ignorance of the Deity is an ignorance to which the soul is everlastingly condemned.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“A woman might claim to retain some of the child’s faculties, although very limited and defused, simply because she has not been encouraged to learn methods of thought and develop a disciplined mind. As long as education remains largely induction ignorance will retain these advantages over learning and it is time that women impudently put them to work.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)