Strict and Vicarious Liability

Abstract

Strict liability is the phrase used to refer to criminal offences that do not require mens rea in respect of one or more elements of the actus reus. They are nearly all offences created by statute. Although strict liability is sometimes said to be exceptional, in fact it has been estimated that over half of the criminal offences triable in the Crown Court require no proof of mens rea (Ashworth and Blake). The phrase ‘absolute liability’ is sometimes used, but this is misleading because it implies both that an offence of strict liability possesses no fault element at all and that it is not possible to plead a defence to such crimes, but neither of these suggestions is true.