ABSTRACT
The guilty act The actus reus consists of all the ingredients of a crime except the mens rea. In the crime of battery, the actus reus is the unlawful application of force against a person; in theft, the actus reus is the taking of property belonging to another. Surrounding circumstances may have to be considered if a particular state of affairs or a fact is part of the actus reus. For instance, in the offence of ‘Being found drunk in a public place’, being drunk is not a crime in itself; it is being in a public place that turns drunkenness into a crime.
