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Motive (law)
 
 
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In law, especially 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....
, a motive is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive in itself is seldom an 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....
 of any given crime
Crime

Societies define Crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some Government or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.The word crime originates from the Latin crimen , from the Latin root cerno and Greek ????? = "I judge"....
; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure or hard to identify with.

The law technically distinguishes between motive and intent
Intent

Intent in law is the planning and desire to perform an Criminal act, to fail to do so or to achieve a state of affairs in psychological view it may mean a different thing....
.






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In law, especially 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....
, a motive is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive in itself is seldom an 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....
 of any given crime
Crime

Societies define Crime as the breach of one or more rules or laws for which some Government or force may ultimately prescribe a punishment.The word crime originates from the Latin crimen , from the Latin root cerno and Greek ????? = "I judge"....
; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at least when those motives may be obscure or hard to identify with.

The law technically distinguishes between motive and intent
Intent

Intent in law is the planning and desire to perform an Criminal act, to fail to do so or to achieve a state of affairs in psychological view it may mean a different thing....
. "Intent" in criminal law is synonymous with 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"....
, which means no more than the specific mental purpose to perform a deed that is forbidden by a criminal statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
, or the reckless disregard of whether the law will be violated. "Motive" describes instead the reasons in the accused's background and station in life that are supposed to have induced the crime.

Motive is particularly important in prosecutions for homicide
Homicide

Homicide refers to the act of killing another human being. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English....
. First, murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
 is so drastic a crime that most people recoil from the thought of being able to do it; proof of motive explains why the accused did so desperate an act.

Moreover, most common law
Common law

Common law refers to law and the corresponding Legal systems of the world developed through legal opinion of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through statute law or Executive ....
 jurisdiction
Jurisdiction

In law, jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility....
s have statutes that provide for degrees of homicide, based in part on the accused's mental state. The lesser offence of voluntary manslaughter
Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder.The law generally differentiates between levels of criminal culpability based on the mens rea, or state of mind....
, for example, traditionally required that the accused knowingly and voluntarily kill the victim (as in murder); in addition, it must be shown that the killing took place in the "sudden heat of passion," an excess of rage or anger coming from a contemporary provocation, which clouded the accused's judgment. Homicides motivated by such factors are a lesser offense than murder "in cold blood."

See also

  • Means, motive, and opportunity
    Means, motive, and opportunity

    In US Criminal law, means, motive, and opportunity is a popular cultural summation of the three aspects of a crime needed to convince a jury of guilt in a criminal procedure....