Criminal Law: Case Law and Analysis

Criminal Law

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Question 1...................................................................................................................................1
Question 2...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Law is termed as a mixture of rules and regulations that are implemented in an economy
so that all the individuals can be treated equally and provided with set guideline to work in legal
manner. Criminal law is one of the small unit of the huge legal system and it is concerned about
the systems of legal rules that defines the criteria to decide whether certain act is crime or not. As
per law crime is defined as an act or omission of an act that leads to violation of a law forbidden
in the legal system.1 To prove an act as a crime their must be availability of these elements:
criminal act, criminal intent, concurrence, causation, harm and attendant circumstances. Cases
that are related to crime are resolved on the basis of criminal law and in criminal court structure.
In this project report a detailed elaboration will be made for criminal law through case law and
with the held of a case provided.
MAIN BODY
Question 1
R v G [2003], case law is one of the benchmark case that was held in the history of
criminal law. Recklessness in criminal law has resulted in contradictory opinion as to whether a
subjective test should be applied or an objective test. In the present case their were two
appellants, aged 11 and 12, went campaign for a night without their parents permission. One of
the boy found some old newspaper and lit them with a lighter and threw them under a wheelie
bin. The burning newspapers set light to the wheelie bin and fire spread to the Co-op shop and
caused damage over £ 1m.2 In this case verdict that has held in MPC v Caldwell case law was
overruled by House of Lords and case was held with appropriate test of recklessness for criminal
damages. Section 1 of Criminal Damage Act 1971 specifies recklessness as a circumstances
when an individual is aware of all the harms and risk that existed in the act. Despite of being
aware with the risk the act is performed and harm is caused as a result of the act.
Recklessness is a situation where a person knowingly performs an act which leads to
causes some harm as per criminal act. In R v G [2003], case law the defendants convictions were
quashed. It is seen that the case is held on the general trend in favour of a subjective mans rea
1 Baker, K. K., 2017. Gender and emotion in criminal law. In Nussbaum and Law (pp.
205-224). Routledge.
2 R v G. 2003. [Online]. Available through:
<http://e-lawresources.co.uk/R-v-G--and--R.php>
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