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Doc Brief

13 September 2007 / B Mahendra
Issue: 7288 / Categories: Features , Professional negligence , Personal injury
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DOLI INCAPAX >>
PROTECTING THE INCAPABLE ELDERLY >>
RIGHT TO REFUSE TREATMENT >>
A NOT SO GOOD SAMARITAN? >>

RIGHT, WRONG AND CAPABLE

As the evidence suggests that the incidence of youth crime continues to grow, all those involved with youthful miscreants have some interest in knowing what capacity this possesses for engaging in criminal litigation. Before the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (CDA 1998), s 34 came into force, there was a presumption of law that a child aged 10 and over but below the age of 14 was doli incapax, that is, it did not know that some act or omission it had been charged with was seriously wrong. It was then up to the Crown to displace this presumption by proving not only the acteus reus and mens rea of the alleged offence, but also that the child charged with what had been alleged knew it was seriously wrong.

In doing this the Crown was not permitted to rely on the evidence of the alleged offence but had to seek and introduce evidence that

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

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Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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