R V Larsonneur
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R v Larsonneur (1933) was a case heard in the Court of Criminal Appeals of England and Wales that has been used to illustrate the applicability of ''
actus reus (), sometimes called the external element or the objective element of a crime, is the Law Latin term for the "guilty act" which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the ("guilty mind"), produces criminal liability in th ...
'' to
strict liability In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. ...
offences.


Facts

Larsonneur, a French national was given permission to enter the United Kingdom with a number of conditions on her staying. After her arrival, these conditions were changed and she was ordered to leave the United Kingdom before 22 March 1933. She complied with the order and went to the Irish Free State. She was subsequently deported from Ireland and was forced to return to
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
on the 21 April 1933. On arrival, she was arrested and charged with breaching the
Aliens Order 1920 The Aliens Order 1920 (S.R.& O. 1920/448) was a British statutory instrument created under the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919 that extended powers over the entry of immigrants into the country. The Order made passports obligatory, and it w ...
, which made it a criminal offence to be found in the United Kingdom.


Appellate decision

The appellant's lawyer, Marston Garsia, argued that "the mere fact of being found in the United Kingdom after the time of her departure therefrom had expired was not in itself an offence, unless it could be proved in addition that she landed in the United Kingdom in contravention of Art. 1. Here the evidence showed that she had not landed at all, but that she had been landed by a superior force over which she had no control".{{Cite book, url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/669194287, title=Clarkson and Keating criminal law : text and materials., last=Clarkson, first=Christoper M. V., last2=Keating, first2=Heather M., last3=Cunningham, first3=Sally R., date=2010, publisher=Sweet & Maxwell, others=, isbn=9781847039187, edition=7th, location=London, pages=76–77, oclc=669194287 Lord Hewart CJ dismissed the appeal and sided with the Crown who argued that how Miss Larsonneur got to the United Kingdom "makes no difference at all".


Criticism

The decision to apply strict liability has attracted critique as it gives rise to criminal liability even when one's actions are involuntary. A similar set of facts occurred in the case of ''
Winzar v Chief Constable of Kent ''Legends of Chima'' is a computer-animated television series created by Tommy Andreasen and produced by The Lego Group. It was created to coincide with the Lego Legends of Chima line of construction toys. It centres on the fictional world of Chim ...
'' (1983).


See also

* Terrorism Act 2000, which introduced a strict liability offence of belonging to a proscribed terrorist organisation


Further reading

* D. Husak, ''Philosophy of Criminal Law'' (Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 102


References

1933 in case law 1933 in the United Kingdom