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Intent

Intent in law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
is the planning and desire to perform an act, to fail to do so (i.e. an omission

Omission (criminal)

In the criminal law, an omission, or failure to act, will constitute an actus reus and give rise to liability only when the law imposes a duty to act and the defendant is in breach of that duty....
) or to achieve a state of affairs in psychological view it may mean a different thing.

In criminal law

Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
, for a given actus reus
Actus reus

Actus reus, sometimes called the Element or the objective element of a crime, is the Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the mens rea, "guilty mind", produces criminal liability in the common law-based criminal law jurisdictions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, I...
("guilty act"), the required element

Element (criminal)

An element of a crime is a basic set of common law principles regarding criminal liability that, with few exceptions, constitute the essential elements to prove that the defendant committed a crime under Law of the United States....
to prove intent consists of showing mens rea
Mens rea

In criminal law, mens rea the Latin term for "guilty mind" is usually one of the necessary Element of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means that "the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty"....
(mental state, "guilty mind").

The requirements for the proof of intent in tort law are generally simpler than criminal law.

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Encyclopedia

Intent in law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
is the planning and desire to perform an act, to fail to do so (i.e. an omission

Omission (criminal)

In the criminal law, an omission, or failure to act, will constitute an actus reus and give rise to liability only when the law imposes a duty to act and the defendant is in breach of that duty....
) or to achieve a state of affairs in psychological view it may mean a different thing.

In criminal law

Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
, for a given actus reus
Actus reus

Actus reus, sometimes called the Element or the objective element of a crime, is the Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the mens rea, "guilty mind", produces criminal liability in the common law-based criminal law jurisdictions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, I...
("guilty act"), the required element

Element (criminal)

An element of a crime is a basic set of common law principles regarding criminal liability that, with few exceptions, constitute the essential elements to prove that the defendant committed a crime under Law of the United States....
to prove intent consists of showing mens rea
Mens rea

In criminal law, mens rea the Latin term for "guilty mind" is usually one of the necessary Element of a crime. The standard common law test of criminal liability is usually expressed in the Latin phrase, actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea, which means that "the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty"....
(mental state, "guilty mind").

The requirements for the proof of intent in tort law are generally simpler than criminal law. Knowledge of the repercussions of the act is often not necessary. It is sometimes only a matter of showing that there was desire to perform an act.

See also

Intention (criminal)
Intention (criminal)

In the criminal law, intention is one of the three general classes of mens rea necessary to constitute a conventional as opposed to strict liability crime....
Letter and spirit of the law
Letter and spirit of the law

The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis. When one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, he is obeying the literal interpretation of the words of the law, but not the intent of those who wrote the law....