CRW2601 Exam Questions and Answers November 2015

Section A Question 1 1.1 (a) The four requirements of criminal liability are the following conduct (act or omission), compliance with the definitional elements of the offence, unlawfulness and culpability. (b) In terms of the ius acceptum principle a court may only find a person guilty of an offence if the kind of act performed is recognized as a crime at the time of its commission. (c) The ius praevium principle requires that a court may only find a person guilty of an offence if the kind of act performed was recognized as a crime at the time of its commission. All statements are correct. 1.2 (a) A South African court is allowed to create new crimes if the court is of the opinion that the particular conduct is against the good morals of society. (b) A provision which reads as follows “Nobody may criticise the government and anybody who contravenes this provision is guilty of a crime” complies with the ius certum rule of the principle of legality. (c) In Masiya v Director of Public Prosecutions 2007 (2) SACR 435 (CC) the Constitutional Court extended the definition of the crime of rape in order to give effect to the rights of women to dignity, privacy and sexual autonomy. Only statement (c) is correct 1.3 (a) The rules of the principles of legality need not be complied with in the context of punishment. (b) X performs a voluntary act if he can subject his bodily movements to his will or intellect. (c) If a person acted negligently, it means that he did not perform a voluntary act. Only statement (b) is correct. 1.4 (a) If Y tells X that he will kill him unless he (X) kills Z and as a result of this threat X kills Z, then he (X) acts in a situation of absolute force. (b) Sane automatism means that a person did not act voluntarily as a result of mental illness. (c) In Henry 1999 (1) SACR 12 (SCA) the accused. Who had shot his wife in a fit of rage relied upon the defence of insane automatism. None of the statements are correct. 1.5 (a) An omission is punishable only if there is a legal duty upon X to act positively. (b) The defence of impossibility may be raised if it is objectively impossible for X to comply with a criminal norm which places a positive duty upon him to act. (c) Causation is a requirement in all materially-defined crimes.