Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.
Chapter

Chapter
Actus reus
DOI link for Actus reus
Actus reus book
Actus reus
DOI link for Actus reus
Actus reus book
ByCatherine Elliott
Edition 1st Edition
First Published 2001
Imprint Willan
Pages 5
eBook ISBN 9781843924500
ABSTRACT
Like English criminal law, the French analyse their offences as requiring both an actus reus (l’élément matériel) and a mens rea (l’élément moral). Some academic authors1 also add a third requirement, that the offence must be laid down in a written source of law, known as the principe de légalité. This principle developed as a backlash to the perceived abuses of judicial discretion under the Ancien Régime. Royal ordonnances were drafted in vague terms, ordering punishment, for example, ‘according to the requirements of the case, in such a way as will be an example to all others’.2