Kenny's

Criminal
Law

M. S. RAMA RAO B.Sc., M.A., M.L.

Class-room live lectures edited, enlarged
and updated

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 KENNY'S
CRIMINAL LAW
. KENNY'S CRIMINAL LAW (CHAPTERS 1 TO 5)

[Refers to English criminal Law]

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 CHAPTER-1 CRIME AND

CRIMINAL LAW
1. The nature of a crime:
Difficulty of definition. Tort and crime. Crime in the primitive state.
Early Rome. Crimes as the creation of government policy.
2. The place of criminal law in criminal Science, Criminology, Criminal
policy, Criminal law.

CHAPTER-2
PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY
1. At common law :
A. Historical ; not embodied in a code. The period of strict liability.
Expiation of guilt by money payment. The most serious offences
recognized first. The need for a new test of criminal liability. The recognition
of a mental element in criminal liability.
B. actus reus (a) Deed of commission, a result of active conduct (b)
Result of omission.
Causation : (i) Where there is no physical participation (ii) Where the
participation is indirect (iii) Where any other person has intervened (iv)
Where the victim's own conduct has affected the result (v) contributory
negligence of the victim (vi) Where the participation is superfluous.

C. Mens rea (a) The objective standard of morality (b) The

emergence of a subjective standard Mala in se and Mala prohibita.

Voluntary conduct. Foresight of the consequences. Intention, reck-

lessness and negligence.
Where the consequences are different from those foreseen, Mens rea
alone not enough.

Vicarious liability at common law.

General principles of liability at common law, conclusions.

2. In Statutory Offences:
A. Actus reus in statutory offences:
B. Mens rea in statutory offences. Foresight of consequences
in statutory offences. Negligence in statutory offences. Vicarious liability in
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statutory offences.
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 Mens rea as affecting the measure of punishment. Conclusions.

CHAPTER-3

VARIATION IN LIABILITY
1. Introduction
2. Mistake-Mistake as a defence at common law. Mistake as a defense
in statutory offences.
3. Intoxication
Intoxication relevant in establishing mistake, lack of intent, etc.
4. Compulsion - Obedience to order. Marital coercion. Duress per
minas. Necessity.
5'. Legally "abnormal persons, (a) The sovereign (b) Corporations (c)
Infants (d) Insane persons (e) Clerks in holy orders. Benefit of clergy.
CHA PTER-4 PRELIMARY CRIMES
1. introductory
2 Incitement
3 Criminal conspiracy
4 Attempt - History of the crime of attempt.
Elements of liability in attempt.
Actus reus in attempt. Attempts to do that which is
impossible. Merger of attempt when the crime intended is completed.

CHAPTER-5

THE POSSIBLE PARTIES TO A CRIME

1 Introductory
2 Principals in the first degree
3 Principals in the second degree : aiders
and abaters
4 Accessories before the fact
5 Accessories after the fact
6 Accomplices
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Questions Bank

KENNY'S CRIMINAL LAW

1. Explain with what restraints Kenny attempt at defining
"Crime"'
2. Discuss the role of 'mens rea' in common law and in statutory
offences. Refer to leading cases. What is the position under I.P.C.?
3. Discuss how far
i) Mistake
ii) Intoxication and
iii) Insanity could be considered as defences
4. Explain how Kenny deals with "Attempt" in crimes. Refer to
Indian law.
5. Explain Kenny's concept of

1) Principals in the I & II degree

2) Accessories before the fact and accessories after the fact.
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 KENNY'S CRIMINAL LAW

CHAPTER 1

DEFINITION OF CRIMES
The definition of crime has always been regarded as a matter of
great difficulty. No satisfactory definition has been achieved as
yet in English law.
Tort and crime are a viscous inter-mixture. There is not much
difference between them. A crime is against the society and a
tort is against an individual. But, the society is composed of
individuals. The difference is one of degree.
'Felony' indicated something cruel, fierce or wicked The word
"Crime" was used in the 14th century. Any conduct which was
destructive according to a powerful section of any community
was a crime. The sovereign power of the state would command
to punish such crimes. The procedures taken by the courts, was
the "criminal proceeding".
In Rome, the sovereign power was with the senate. In the first
stage, there was no police organisation. It was left to the
individuals to punish: for example a traitor could be killed by
any person and there was no punishment to him.

Emperor Cladius, changed the marriage law as so to enable

him to marry his brother's daughter Agrippina. This is an
extreme case, but. a 'dictator could alter the law according to
his whimsies and fancies.
In later years, the law making, came under the influence of
public opinion.
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Crime, is the creation of Govt. policy, according to Kenny.

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 Crimes, originate in the Govt. policy of the moment. The
governing power in society, forbids a man from doing certain
acts, called crimes. Of course, subsequent governments may
change them. As long as this changing pattern continues, the
nature of crime, eludes a true definition. However, according to
Kenny, there are three characteristics in a crime.
i) It is a harm caused by human conduct, which the sovereign
desires to prevent.
ii) The preventive measure is threat of punishment.
iii) Legal procedures are employed to prove the guilt
according to law.

CHAPTER -2

PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Much of English criminal law is not contained in any code (in

India there is the l.P.C.) hut it is a conglomerate mass of
rules based on common law, and in addition there are a few
enactments made by Parliament from time to time.
It was Chief Justice Coke who stated the rule "Actus non
facit reum nisi mens sit rea" (the act and the intent must
both concur to constitute crime). This famous maxim refers
to man's deed (actus) and his mental processes (mens) at the
time of the commission of the offense. This means the
conduct of the person must have been inspired and actuated
by his mens rea.
In Meli and others V.R.. the facts were, that M and others
took D to a hut at night, gave him beer, and, beat him on his
head with intent to kill him. Thinking him to be dead, they
carried the body out and rolled it down a hill. Medical
evidence showed, that death was due to exposure to the cold
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as he was lying unconscious, and not due to the beating.

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 Defense was as follows : The first part was the beating with
intent to kill M ; but, this beating did not cause the death,
hence, there was no actus reus of murder. Once, they
believed that he was dead, their intention to kill had ceased ;
but, they desired to evade detection (malice afore thought)
and hence, put him down the hill. Here, death was due to
freezing, but, the Privy Council rejected this and held that it
was one transaction and therefore, it was murder.
Actus reus :
This is the deed or the commission. It is the material result of
the conduct of the accused, which the law wants to prevent. In
case of murder, it is the victim's -death by any means that is the
actus reus, but mens rea is the intention of the accused.
The actus reus must have been prohibited to create criminal
liability e.g.. harm to the person, destruction of property etc. It
is therefore, clear that if killing is authorised e.g. death
sentence, there is no murder.
Causation : A man is said to have caused, the actus reus of
killing a person, if death would not have occurred without the
participation of the accused.
(i) This participation may be direct i.e., when the accused A
kills B
(ii) It is indirect when he instigates another to kill. A secretly
puts poison into a drink which A knows that B will offer to C.
(iii) A crime may be committed without physical participation
e.g. conspiracy, abetement etc.
(iv) Mens rea in one and actus reus in another is possible. A
keeps a goldsmith G, at the point of gun, takes him to a house
where G is forced to open the lock which he does. A thereupon
takes away the goods, here, G is kept in such a threat to his life
that there is no 'mens rea' and hence not guilty.
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 v) By intervention of a third person, a crime may be committed.
!n R.C. Higgins, the warden of a jail was held not guilty for the
death of the prisoner. The prisoner had been confined for 44
days in a dangerous room. The warden neither intended nor did
he know about the confinement. But. such cases are to be
decided with caution, according to Kenny.
E, an engineer, had left his place, by leaving an ignorant boy in
charge of an 'engine. The boy failed to stop the engine properly,
and. as a result of that, 'A' a worker died, held, E was liable, the
engineer-should have contemplated such a possibility.
vi) There are also cases where the victim's own conduct or
contributory negligence would result in a crime. These are to be
decided with sound reasons. This establishes the rule that both
mens rea and actus reus must concur to constitute a crime.
Objective and subjective standards :
Mens rea as one of the elements to constitute crime, was recog-
nised by the English courts by a slow process. In the beginning
the courts applied as objective standard. The courts applied its
own standard of what was right or wrong and tested whether
the prisoner had acted obedient to it or not. The view of the
prisoner was of no consequence.
This theory was replaced by subjective standard doctrine.
The court took into consideration the personality-mental and
physical- of the prisoner. This led to the examination of his
actual intention. This is the subjective test. For example, in
cases of self-defence or misadventure, where the prisoner kills
'A' according to the objective standard the court would award
him conviction, but would then be pardoned by the Crown.
However with the subjective standard of looking to the 'mental
element" the courts may acquit the prisoner on grounds of
private defence etc.
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Conclusions : For application
Kenny Cr.Law
of the concept of actus non tacit
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 reum, nisi mens sit rea, at common law in England the
conditions are summarised, by Kenny, as follows :
1. The person (prisoner) must be of full age, of male sex, of
sound mind and living within the jurisdiction of the English
courts.
2. he must have committed the offence within the courts juris-
diction. Further, there must be "actus reus", that his conduct
must be voluntary and that he foresaw some consequences, the
nature of these is fixed by law.
Ch. .2. Mens Rea in statutory offences :
The old view was that the legislature should not override
common law. This has long been abandoned. In modern law the
statute made by the Parliament is paramount. Hence, in
interpreting the statute there is a presumption that mens rea is
part of the offence. This is a weak presumption and may be
rebutted by the statute itself.

After the 19th century, there was a marked move by the Parlia-
ment in regulating social life by creating offenses with light
punishment. The courts became inclined to solely interpret the
words of the statute, than imposing 'mens rea.
The leading case is R.V. Prince : P had taken a girl, out of the
possession and against the will of the parents. The girl was in
fact below 16, but P contended that she looked to be above 16
and hence, there was no offence. The courts held him guilty.
No reference was made to mens rea.
Though this was the trend set by the courts, still there are in-
stances where courts have in suitable cases insisted on proving
mens rea, on the basis of tr^e protection of the liberty of the
individual. In recent years, in respect of many of the offences
created by legislation, the courts have considered them as
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exceptions to the rule of mens rea. In some, mens rea is held as

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 part of the offence.
In Kat V Diment, the prisoner was convicted for having used
false trade description, of "non-brewed vinegar'. It was held that
when a statute forbids the doing of an act, doing of it, itself
supplies mens rea.
Conclusions : Kenny concludes that it was not possible to for-
mulate any principle in statutory offences to say to what extent
mens rea is a constituent. The statute itself is the guiding star.
The ordinary rules of interpretation should be used. A statute
may directly exclude mens rea. R.V. Tolson : W, married H,
with the reasonable belief that her first husband was dead, as
he was not heard of for 7 years. There was no reference to
mens rea in the statute. Held, that mens rea is excluded in the
statute. W was held not liable as she had a reasonable belief
that her first husband was dead. The modern trend is to
exclude mens rea from statutory offences.
Ch. .3 . Mala in se and Mala prohibita :
The subjective standard doctrine of mens rea led to a
fallacious classification of crimes in England. Some were
serious and gave rise to deep moral reprobation. Such
offences were mala in se (bad in themselves) e.g. Homicide,
adultery, bigamy, slave trading, offences against God and
nature etc. (Blackstone).
Other offences "mala prohibita" (prohibited acts) were
breaches of laws which imposed duties without involving
moral guilt. Eg. : Not performing work on public roads. This
classification has no relevance today.
Mens rea and I. P. C.
In India, the concept is not applicable. The difficulty felt in
England, in interpreting mens rea, is obviated by the I.P.C.
and by Indian statutes. This is done by defining exactly, the
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nature of the mental element of the accused.

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The various offences in the I.P.C., require that the act (actus
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 reus) must have been done with the mental element:
"dishonestly", fraudulently", "knowingly", "intentionally",
"with intent to" etc. With this description the concept of mens
rea has been excluded from the definitions of offences.
Hence, it has no relevance to Indian Criminal Law.
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 CHAPTER 3
VARIATIONS IN LIABILITY
Ch. 3.1. Mistake as a defence at common law :
Kenny puts three special circumstances in which the criminal
guilt is lessened or entirely excluded. These are "mistake",
"intoxication" and "compulsion"'.
If mistake is to be considered as a good defense, three conditions
are to be fulfilled.
a) The mistake must be of such a nature that, if the supposed
circumstances were real, there would not have been any
criminal liability attached to the accused.
Mistake negatives mens rea and hence, the accused is not guilty.
It does not negative actus reus.
Accordingly to Foster, in a case, 'A' before going to the church,
fired off his gun and left it empty. In his absence, some person
took the gun, went out for shooting and on returning left it loaded,
later A returned, took up the gun and touched the trigger, which
went off and killed his wife. A had reasonable grounds to believe
that the gun was not loaded. Hence, he would not be guilty of
murder.
b) The mistake must be reasonable. This is a matter of
evidence. But, this is to be established to the satisfaction of the
Court ,A, in order to free his wife from a demon which had
possessed her, held her over fire and with a red hot poker, which
scared her. The wife died in consequence. A had reasonably
believed that he would free her from the devil, with his actus
reus. Held, A was guilty of murder.
c) Mistake however reasonable must relate to matters of fact.
The rule is
ignorantia facti excusat : Ignorance of fact excuses
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ignorantia juris non excusat. Ignorance of law is no excuse.

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 An Italian who kept a lottery house in England was held guilty.
His plea that in Italy the act was legal and that he had mistaken
notion of English law, was rejected by the court.
In India, Sns. 76 and 79 deal with mistake of fact and mistake
of law (Refer Chapter 2,).
Ch. 3.2. Intoxication :
The old law in England, dealt with intoxication as one which
aggravated the crime and hence, punishable. But, in the present
day, the effect of intoxication is considered as similar to illness
produced by poison etc. Hence, actual insanity, produced by
drinking as in "delirium tremens", is a defence. This should be
established as a fact.
If the intoxication, is caused by a companion and not voluntarily
by the accused himself, then the accused is exempted. However,
it is to be established before the court that the accused was
incapable of knowing the nature of his act.

Relevance : Drunkenness may be relevant : i) to establish a

mistake ii) to show the absence of intention or specific
intention
iii) to show this as part of an offence e.g. drunken person in
charge of child of seven years, or drunken driver causing an
accident etc.
iv) to show that it has happened in provocation.
A in a fit of passion, is provoked and kills B, who was respon-
sible for the provocation. In some circumstances, this is
culpable homicide and not murder.
The general rule is that intoxication is not a defence but may be
relevant as stated above. The position in India is stated in Sn.
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85. I.P.C. (See ch. 2.2.)

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 Ch. 3.3. Insanity
Insanity of a particular and appropriate kind is regarded as a
good defense in English law. Medical profession has classified
these mental variations.
The leading case is R.V. Mcnaghten. One M had killed Mr.
Drummond the private secretary of Sir Robert Peel. But, in
reality by mistake, he had killed not the real Mr. Drummond.
Insanity was the ground of defence. He was acquitted on this
ground. This caused great resentment and the House of
Lords stated certain principles as guidelines.
i) Every person is sane, until proved otherwise.
ii) At the time of committing the offence, the accused must be -
labouring from a disease of mind to lose his reason and to
know whether what he was doing was wrong or not.
iii) If he was conscious that the act was one which he ought
not to do, he is punishable.
iv) the nature of the delusion decides the question. The actus
reus must have been actuated by delusion directly.
The burden of proof is on the accused to prove his insanity
India : Sn. 84,1.P.C. insanity as a defence.
If the offence is done by a person, who at the time of doing it,
by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the
nature of the act, or knowing the nature of what he was doing
was wrong or illegal, he is not guilty of the offence.
In Sakaram Ramji's case, the accused was a habitual ganja
smoker. He quarreled with his wife and killed her and the
children. The plea that he had a diseased state of mind due to
Ganja, and that he was incapable of knowing what he was
doing, was rejected by the court .Held Guilty of murder.
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 CHAPTER -4
PRELIMINARY CRIMES Attempt :
This is the most common of the preliminary crimes. It
consists of the steps taken by the accused in furtherance of
doing an offence, i.e.. The long chain of steps taken to reach a
stage to constitute the crime of attempt. This chain is the
actus reus".
To constitute attempt, there must be mens rea and actus reus
at common law, The actus reus consists of the deed done in
actual furtherance of the crime intended. This must show that
the accused was aiming at a crime. This means, he must have
taken some steps to do the crime or to attain his ultimate
objective.
The leading case is R.V. Robinson.
Robinson, a jeweler, had insured his stocks. One day he
bound himself up with a cord and called out for help. The
police came on the scene. R told the police, that a stranger
had come and tied him up and emptied the jewels. The cash-
box was open and empty. Later the police suspected the
story, and made a search and found the jewels under a safe.
He was charged for attempt to obtain money from the
insurance company, by false pretenses.

Held, not guilty. Kenny makes a clear analysis of this case. R is

not guilty because, the attempt had not yet reached that stage to
charge him. The actus reus was not there. If he had made
attempts to claim from insurance company, then of course there
would have been an attempt. However, in this case there was
no attempt, and hence, not guilty.
Completed act: When the attempt is completed it results in an
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offense and the attempt -disappears. The accused becomes

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 liable for the completed offence.
India : Sn. 511 of the I.P.C. deals with "attempt" as a stage in
an offence.

CHAPTER - 5
PARTIES TO A CRIME

Crimes, in England, are grouped into 3 classes.

Treasons, felonies, and misdemeanor. The gravest is
treason, and the least of this crime is misdemeanours. Any
participation of the accused makes him guilty as a principal in
both these offences.
But the rules of common law relating to felonies are compli-
cated and the gradation of participation is to be decided to
award punishment. For this purpose, Kenny has divided the
parties into two groups : principles of the I degree and of the II
degree and Accessories before and Accessories after the fact.
i) Principals in the first degree :
He is the actual offender and the man with the guilty mind. The
actus reus is done by him generally. In some cases, the deed
may be done through an innocent person. The man who
instigates is the real offender. Thus, if a doctor tells the nurse to
administer a dose of medicine made by him, and if the patient
dies in consequence of the dose, the doctor is the principal of
the first degree.
There may be two or more persons in the first degree. If a night
watchman opens the main entrance of his masters house and
allows the accused to enter and steal the goods thereof, both are
principals of the first degree. Similarly, when A holds the tongue
of C and B cuts it off resulting in the death of C, both A and B
are principals in the first degree,
ii) Principal in the second degree:
These are the persons who aid and abet another in the commis-
sion of the crime. At common law, these were punishable
equally with the principal in the first degree, but, this was later
changed by the Accessories and Abettors Act 1861.
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 The second degree man, is one who aids and abets at the
very time when the offence is committed, e.g. A person
who, aids in possessing explosives, a receiver of stolen
property from the thief; person keeping watch and ward
when the crime is going on inside the house, etc. Mere
presence, will not make a person, an abettor. There must be
evidence to show his participation.
iii) Accessories before the fact :
An accessory is a person who is absent at the time of the com-
mission of the felony, buy commends, procures, or abets a
felony. R. V. Saunders : in this case, S desired to kill his wife
so that he could marry M. He consulted Archer, who advised
him to put poison to apple. S did so. the wife after eating a
bit of the apple, gave to her female child which ate and died
in consequence.
Held, Saundes was guilty of murder. The court held that
Archer could not be held to be guilty as accessory to kill the
child since his aid and advice was to kill the wife and not the
child.
The principal, in criminal law is different from the principal
in tort or contract A, lodge owner, directs M, a maid servant
to steal jewels from the inmate of his lodge and M steals
them, the maid is the principal and the owner is the
accessory before the fact.
iv) Accessories after the fact:
An accessory in this case is a person who gives shelter or
relief in such a fashion as to avoid justice. He may conceal a
murderer in his house- mens rea is to assist him. Hence, a
person who harbours an offender is an accessory after the
fact. But, a wife is exempted and incurs no criminal liability
for giving shelter to her felonious husband.
THE END

But can we put an End to Crimes ?

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