actus reus

actus reus

English

Etymology

From Late Latin āctus reus (“guilty act”), from Latin āctus (“act”) + reus (“guilty”); after Late Latin and English mens rea.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌaktəsˈɹeɪəs/, /ˌaktəsˈɹiːəs/

Noun

actus reus (plural actus rei)

1. (law) An act, or series of acts, considered as separate from the intentions or state of mind of the perpetrator in the context of criminal law. [from 20th c.]
   • 1989, James B. Jacobs, Drunk Driving: An American Dilemma, University of Chicago Press, page 65,

     It is hornbook criminal law that criminal offenses are defined in terms of an actus reus (criminal act) and a mens rea (criminal mind).

   • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, page 610:

     A brute emotional reflex to the actus reus, the bad act (‘She killed her husband! Shame!’), could trigger an urge for retribution regardless of her intention.

   • 2016, Nicola Monaghan, Criminal Law, 4th Edition, Oxford University Press, page 23,

     Every criminal offence must contain actus reus elements. A defendant will not be liable for a criminal offence unless the actus reus of the offence is proved: Deller (1952)36 Cr app r 184. Although the vast majority of criminal offences consist of both actus reus elements and mens rea elements, some criminal offences do not require a mens rea element for every element of the actus reus.

Usage notes

Often, perhaps usually, italicised.

Coordinate terms

• mens rea

Translations

criminal act

Chinese: Mandarin: 法律構成要件, 法律构成要件 (fǎlǜ gòuchéng yàojiàn), 構成要件, 构成要件 (gòuchéng yàojiàn) Finnish: rikollinen teko German: strafbare Handlung f, objektiver Tatbestand m Russian: противопра́вное де́йствие n (protivoprávnoje déjstvije), правонаруше́ние (ru) n (pravonarušénije)