ABSTRACT

 “Mens Rea”, the mental element of an offence can be in the form of intention, recklessness, knowledge and in some instances, negligence or any other state of mind prescribed by the law creating an offence. Developed and integrated into the English criminal law around the twelfth century to the thirteenth century when it was fully integrated into the English criminal law, it has alongside actus reus (physical element), concurrence and causation become an integral part of the law in establishing criminal liability of an accused charged with an offence. This work examines the importance of mens rea, and the forms of mens rea obtainable under the Nigerian Criminal Law whilst briefly examining the introduction of mens rea into the English law and its subsequent integration into the Nigerian law. The second part of the work focuses on strict liability offences as an exception to the proof of mens rea, the strict liability offences, its position under the Nigerian criminal law and also the rationale for these offences.

 

TITLE PAGE………….…..…………………….…………………………………………i

ATTESTATION ii

CERTIFICATION iii

ABSTRACT iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

DEDICATION viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ix

TABLE OF STATUTES xi

TABLE OF CASES xii

LIST OF ABBRIEVATIONS xiii

CHAPTER ONE 1

GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1

1.0.0 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 3

1.2.0 FOCUS OF THE STUDY 3

1.3.0 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4

1.4.0 METHODOLOGY 4

1.5.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.6.0 CONCLUSION 9

CHAPTER TWO 11

MENS REA: MEANING, DEVELOPMENT AND FORMS 11

2.0.0 INTRODUCTION 11

2.1.0 MEANING OF MENS REA 12

2.2.0 THE INTRODUCTION OF MENS REA UNDER THE ENGLISH CRIMINAL LAW AND THE INTEGRATION OF MENS REA INTO THE NIGERIA CRIMINAL LAW 14

2.3.0 FORMS OF MENS REA 20

2.4.0 CONCLUSION 34

CHAPTER THREE 35

MENS REA II: THE IMPORTANCE OF MENS REA 35

3.0.0 INTRODUCTION 35

3.1.0 IMPORTANCE OF MENS REA IN ESTABLISHING CRIMINAL LIABILITY 35

3.2.0 CONCLUSION 52

CHAPTER FOUR 53

STRICT LIABILITY OFFENCES/EXCEPTION TO THE PROOF OF MENS REA 53

4.0.0 INTRODUCTION 53

4.1.0 MEANING AND CONCEPT OF STRICT LIABILITY 54

4.2.0 STRICT LIABILITY UNDER THE NIGERIAN CRIMINAL LAW 57

4.3.0 RATIONALE FOR STRICT LIABILITY OFFENCES 63

4.4.0 ARGUMENT AGAINST STRICT LIABILITY OFFENCES 68

4.5.0 CONCLUSION 72

CHAPTER FIVE 73

CONCLUSION 73

5.1.0 SUMMARY 73

5.2.0 CONCLUSION 74

BIBLIOGRAPHY 75

 

TABLE OF STATUTES

• Armed Forces Act, CAP A20 LFN 2004

• Criminal Code, CAP C38 LFN 2004

• National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, CAP N30 LFN 2004

• Penal Code, CAP P3 LFN 2004

• Supreme Court Ordinance of 1914

 

TABLE OF CASES

NIGERIA

• Bassey Asuquo V The State (2002) LPELR 10396 (CA)

• Edu V C.O.P (1952) 14 WACA 163

• Emmanuel Ochiba V The State (2010) SCNJ 1

• Felicia Akinbisade V The State (2006) SCNJ 526

• Giwa V The State (1996) 4 SCNJ 94

• Iromantu V The State (1964) 1 ALL NLR 311

• Joseph Idowu V The State (2000) 7 SCNJ 259

• Mike Amadi V Federal Republic of Nigeria (2008) 12 SC (PT III) 55

• Odunlami V The Nigerian Navy (2013) LPELR 20701 SC

• R V Braimah (1943) 9 WACA 197

• R V Maya Nungu (1963) 14 WACA 379

• R V Otto George (1943) 9 WACA

• R V Unuoha (1926) 3 WACA 88

• Sebastian Yongo V C.O.P (1992) 4 SCNJ 113

• Uluebeka V The State (2011) 4 NWLR Pt 1237

SUDAN

• A.G V Brunza (1966) SLJR 146

UNITED KINGDOM

• D.P.P V Smith (1961) A.C 290

• Fowler V Paget (1798) 7 TR 509

• R V Prince (1875) LR 2 CCR 154

• Reynolds V G. H Austins & Sons Ltd (1951) 2 KB 135

• Sherras V De Rutzen (1895) 1 QB 918

LIST OF ABBRIEVATIONS 

• A.C: Appeal Cases

• ALL N.L.R: All Nigeria Law Report

• Am Inst C.L & C: American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology

• C.A: Court of Appeal

• Ed: Edition

• Inc: Incorporation

• K.B: king’s Bench

• L.F.N: Laws of the Federation of Nigeria

• LPELR: Law Pavilion Electronic Law Report

• L.R, C.C.R: Law Reports, Crown Cases Reserved

• N.W.L.R: Nigeria Weekly Law Report

• Q.B: Queen’s Bench

• S.C: Supreme Court

• S.C.N.J: Supreme Court of Nigeria Judgements

• S.L.J.R: Sudan Law Journal Reports

• T.R: Times Law Report

• U.Maid L.J: University of Maiduguri Law Journal

• Vol: Volume

• W.A.C.A: West African Court of Appeal