Criminal Intent
idea · 2 works · 2 mentions · 3 anchored passages
criminal intent · criminal intention · criminal motive · dolus malus · guilt
spoken of as
1 expressionDolus malus“criminal intent”1 mention
Institutes of Roman Law (English)
Robbery, like theft, requires dolus malus, that is, criminal intention.
in the texts
Institutes of Roman Law
Requirement of fraudulent or unlawful intent as a necessary element of theft, robbery, and Aquilian liability.
Robbery, like theft, requires dolus malus, that is, criminal intention.
Iniuria autem occidere intellegitur, cuius dolo aut culpa id acciderit;
and the distinction is just, for there is no theft without unlawful intention.
An Essay on the Trial by Jury
The mental element of knowingly doing wrong, treated as necessary for criminal guilt
Consequently, the jury must find that he acted from a criminal motive, before they can declare him guilty.
There is no moral justice in, nor any political necessity for, punishing a man for any act whatever that he may have committed, if he have done it without any criminal intent.
This necessity for a criminal intent—in other words, for guilt—as a preliminary to conviction, makes it impossible that a man can be rightfully convicted for an act that is intrinsically innocent, though forbidden by the government;