Section 22 of the 1930 Act obliged a driver in certain circumstances to report an accident causing damage to another vehicle, person or animal. The defendant failed to do so because he was unaware that he had been involved in an accident. He claimed that he could not be guilty of the offence because he was unaware that he had been involved in an accident.
Held: The Court agreed, notwithstanding that there was nothing in the section to identify the need for any mens rea.
Lord Goddard LCJ said: ‘If, apart from authority, one seeks to find a principle applicable to this matter it may be thus stated. If a statute contains an absolute prohibition against the doing of some act, as a general rule mens rea is not a constituent of the offence; but there is all the difference between prohibiting an act and imposing a duty to do something on the happening of a certain event. Unless a man knows that the event has happened, how can he carry out the duty imposed? If the duty be to report, he cannot report something of which he has no knowledge. That is the ratio decidendi of Nichols v Hall [5 LR 8 CP 322, 326] and, in my opinion, it is applicable to and decisive of the present case. Any other view would lead to calling on a man to do the impossible.’
Judges:
Lord Goddard LCJ
Citations:
[1948] 1 KB 695, [1948] 1 All ER 283
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Brend v Wood 1946
The court discussed the need to assume that conviction for an offence required proof of mens rea.
Lord Goddard CJ said: ‘It should first be observed that at common law there must always be mens rea to constitute a crime; if a person can show . .
Cited by:
Cited – Whiteside v The Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 21-Dec-2011
The defendant appealed by case stated against conviction under section 172 of failing to provide appropriate driver details. The notices had been received at his address, but he had been unaware of them. He was at the time working regularly in the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Road Traffic, Crime
Updated: 01 February 2022; Ref: scu.541080