In the study of law, the intent behind every crime committed is taken into consideration. Before deriving at the conclusion of the person accused, situation and the surrounding of the person affecting their state of mind is dissected. For this, the clear understanding of the Latin terms actus reus and mens rea is necessary to be understood.
Actus reus or the physical act or omission has been coined by professor Kenny in his first edition of ‘Outlines of Criminal Law’ in 1902. Further the term was given much wider meaning by Glanville Williams in his criminal law. When we talk of actus reus, we include all the external circumstances and consequences specified in the rule of law considered as forbidden.
Usually actus reus follows inevitably from the proposition that all constituents of a crime are either actus reus or mens rea. Actus reus connotes physical result of human conduct. It is a distinguishable event produced from a conduct. According to Kenny , actua reus is result of human conduct that law seeks to prevent.
Actus denotes ‘deed’, a physical result of human conduct. Reus means ‘forbidden by law’. Actus reus is made up of 3 constituent parts, namely 1) human action i.e. conduct, 2) reuslt of act i.e. injury, 3) such act prohibited by law.
In Omprakash v. State of Punjab the accused was convicted to commit murder for locking up his wife and not providong food to her. An act of omission attracts criminal liability only when person placed under duty to act as recognised by law and he failed to fulfill it. In kidnapping, actus reus is in respect to perosn and confining the person. In a case of rape, consent is the actus reus.
Mens rea or actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea. It is , according to Samshul Huda, the cornerstone of criminal jurisprudence. Mens rea is a technical term to mean some blameworthy mental condition of intention to a crime. No act perse is criminal. It becomes criminal only when the doer does it with guilty mind.
These words aren’t mentioned in the Indian Penal Code,1860 itself but implicitly stand necessary to the implementation of the principles contained in the realm of criminal jurisprudence in indian criminal law.
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