R v. Deller (1952) - important case notes PDF

Title	R v. Deller (1952) - important case notes
Author	Peter O reilly
Course	Constitutional Law: Institutions of Government
Institution	University College Cork
Pages	1
File Size	56.6 KB
File Type	PDF
Total Downloads	35
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important case notes...

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NO Actus Reus YES Mens Rea

The criminal law does not seek to punish people for their evil thoughts only. R v. Deller (1952) 36 Crim. App. R. 184 (CA) D induced V to purchase his car by representing that it was “free from encumbrances”. D believed he was lying because he had executed a document purporting to mortgage the car to a finance company. The mortgage document was legally void as an unregistered bill of sale. Thus, the car was free from encumbrances. So D in fact had told the truth. D was not guilty of the offence of obtaining by false pretences under the Larceny Act 1916. Although there he had the mens rea for the offence, there was no actus reus. “... it may be quite accidentally and, strange as it may sound, dishonestly, the appellant has told the truth.” (per Hilbery J at p. 191)...