Honestly Held But Unreasonable Beliefs
In some jurisdictions, the defense of mistake is available only if the mistaken belief was honest AND reasonable. This is predominantly in the area of specific intent crimes where the defendant has to "knowingly" commit the act (murder, arson, receipt of stolen goods, etc.).
In Australian federal law, it is not a requirement for the defense that a mistake was reasonably held. However, the fact that a belief is unreasonable may be relevant in determining whether the belief was actually held by the person (Criminal Code (Cth) s 9.1).
The leading Supreme Court of Canada case on the mistaken belief is R. v. Park, in which it was held that even unreasonable beliefs must be left to a jury to consider. The issue in most states is the extent to which the test of belief should be subjective or objective.
Read more about this topic: Mistake (criminal Law)
Famous quotes containing the words honestly, held, unreasonable and/or beliefs:
“Many a poor sore-eyed student that I have heard of would grow faster, both intellectually and physically, if, instead of sitting up so very late, he honestly slumbered a fool’s allowance.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Private property is held sacred in all good governments, and particularly in our own. Yet shall the fear of invading it prevent a general from marching his army over a cornfield or burning a house which protects the enemy? A thousand other instances might be cited to show that laws must sometimes be silent when necessity speaks.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“... when the Spaniards persecuted heretics they may have been crude, but they were not being unreasonable or unpractical. They were at least wiser than the people of to-day who pretend that it does not matter what a man believes, as who should say that the flavour and digestibility of a pudding will have nothing to do with its ingredients.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“If we cannot find a way to interpret the utterances and other behaviour of a creature as revealing a set of beliefs largely consistent and true by our own standards, we have no reason to count that creature as rational, as having beliefs, or as saying anything.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)