The defendants appealed against their convictions for conspiracy to counterfeit gold coins. They said no evidence had been brought to suggest their intention to commit any dishonest act. The House was asked whether the offence was one of specific or basic intent.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. The offence was one of basic intent.
A provision in a consolidating Act, must be taken to have incorporated the law as it stood. Lord Scarman said: ‘The earlier statute law, therefore, and judicial decisions as to its meaning and purpose are very relevant, if there be any difficulty or ambiguity.’
Judges:
Lord Wilberforce, Lord Simon of Glaisdale, Lord Russell of Killowen, Lord Scarman, Lord Bridge of Harwich
Citations:
[1982] UKHL 9, [1982] 1 All ER 993, [1982] 1 WLR 451, (1982) 75 Cr App R 7, [1982] Crim LR 430
House of Lords
Links:
Statutes:
Coinage Offences Act 1936 1(1)(a)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v George 1960
(Canada) Fauteux J described the difference between a crime of basic intent and one of specific intent: ‘In considering the question of mens rea, a distinction is to be made between (i) intention as applied to acts considered in relation to their . .
Cited – Dickins v Gill 1896
Collins J considered the words of the statute: ‘It is obvious that the purpose of the Act is in every way to make it illegitimate for persons to do that which by the policy of the law can only be done by, or with the authority of, the Crown; the . .
Cited – Farrell v Alexander HL 24-Jun-1976
The House considered the construction of a consolidation Act.
Held: It is ordinarily both unnecessary and undesirable to construe a consolidation Act by reference to statutory antecedents, but it is permissible to do so in a case where the . .
Cited – Selby v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1972
The House, by a majority, discounted the significance of the requirement in the statute for an act ‘with intent to defraud’. The word ‘uttering’ involved inherently a fraudulent intent. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248664