rea

“Mens Rea” literally means a guilty mind. It is a cardinal principle of English Common Law is that a persons cannot be convicted and punished in a proceeding of a criminal nature unless it can shown that he had a guilty mind. The principle is self explanatory. A person should be punished for deliberate defiance of law, rather than something which didn’t do intentionally or something which happened accidently etc. Nevertheless, the principle is most misunderstood. Full Article