Facts
The defendant, Mr. Fagan, was in his car when a police officer approached him and told him to move his car. In accordance with the directions, Fagan backed his car up, accidentally rolling it onto the foot of the officer. When the officer yelled at him to move his car off his foot, he cursed back at him, told him to wait, and refused to move.
At trial, Fagan was convicted of "Assaulting a constable in execution of his duties". Fagan appealed on the grounds that there can be no offence in omitting to act and that the act of driving onto the constable's foot was done completely by accident so there was no mens rea.
Read more about this topic: Fagan V Metropolitan Police Commissioner
Famous quotes containing the word facts:
“It is not the simple statement of facts that ushers in freedom; it is the constant repetition of them that has this liberating effect. Tolerance is the result not of enlightenment, but of boredom.”
—Quentin Crisp (b. 1908)
“Obviously the facts are never just coming at you but are incorporated by an imagination that is formed by your previous experience. Memories of the past are not memories of facts but memories of your imaginings of the facts.”
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“Facts as facts do not always create a spirit of reality, because reality is a spirit.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)