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)
“Some think to avoid the influence of metaphysical errors, by paying no attention to metaphysics; but experience shows that these men beyond all others are held in an iron vice of metaphysical theory, because by theories that they have never called in question.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Public instability ... gives ... [an] unreasonable advantage ... to the sagacious, the enterprising, and the moneyed few over the industrious and uninformed mass of the people.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“A man must not swallow more beliefs than he can digest.”
—Havelock Ellis (1859–1939)