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A motive is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. [1] In criminal law, motive in itself is not an element of any given crime; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure or hard to identify with.
In support a legal academic has published that applying too rigid a definition of intent/intention would remove "moral elbow-room" from the jury. [ 1 ] Much opprobrium is expressed that R v Steane on its face extends the traditional definition of criminal liability by adding a criterion of true or moral purpose to offences for which a specific ...
motive to commit the crime (for example, financial gain or to seek revenge) opportunity to commit the crime (including being at the crime scene at the time of the offence); persons presenting an alibi can be eliminated from suspicion; They will also establish the relationships between the victim and any potential offenders. [4]
Direct intent: a person has direct intent when they intend a particular consequence of their act. Oblique intent: the person has oblique intent when the event is a natural consequence of a voluntary act and they foresee it as such. The 'natural consequence' definition was replaced [where?] in R v Woollin [6] with the 'virtually certain' test.
Lewis v R, [1979] 2 S.C.R. 821 is a famous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the relevance of motive in a criminal trial. The Court held that motive is never an essential element of a criminal offence but can be used as evidence to prove intent.
Judges normally do not define intention for juries, and the weight of authority is to give it its current meaning in everyday language as directed by the House of Lords in R v Moloney, [1] where can be found references to a number of definitions of intention using subjective and objective tests, and knowledge of consequences of actions or omissions.
For example, financial gain is a motive to commit a crime from which the perpetrator would financially benefit, like embezzlement. [162] As a technical term, motive is distinguished from intent. Intent is the mental state of the defendant and belongs to mens rea. A motive is a reason that tempts a person to form an intent.
Mens rea refers to the crime's mental elements of the defendant's intent. This is a necessary element—that is, the criminal act must be voluntary or purposeful. Mens rea is the mental intention (mental fault), or the defendant's state of mind at the time of the offense, sometimes called the guilty mind. It stems from the ancient maxim of ...