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12 Law Soc'y J. 138 (1946-1947)
Intent in the Criminal Law

handle is hein.journals/lsocyjo13 and id is 144 raw text is: INTENT IN THE CRIMINAL LAW By VICTORIA FOSTER and CHARLOTTE G. ROHAN* § 1. GENERAL INTENT General criminal intent is the state of mind of the accused which the law presumes from his voluntary commission of an unlawful act without justification or excuse.1 This intent must however, be combined with the wrongful act and must concur in point of time.2 § 2. SPECIFIC INTENT A specific intent is an essential part of certain crimes, that is, in larceny-to steal, in burglary-to commit a felony, and where this intent is an element of the crime it must be clearly proved.s § 3. CONSTRUCTIVE INTENT Constructive Intent is that intent which is imputed to the defendant when an unintended wrongful act occurs during the commission of a crime which is malum. In these cases the intent is inferred from the intent to do the crime.4 *B.U. Law School, 1948 1 Ballentine's Law Dictionary 2 Bouvier's Law Dictionary; Com. v. Morse, 2 Mass. 138; U.S. v. Riddle, 5 Cranch (U.S.) 311; Coin. v. Hawkins, 157 Mass. 551 where Knowlton, J. said, It is a general rule in criminal proceedings at common law that the defendant cannot be convicted unless a cri- minal intent is shown, but it is not necessary that he should have intended the particular wrong which resulted from his act. If he intends to do an unlawful and wrongful act, which is punishable because it is wrong in itself and in doing it he inflicts an unfore- seen 'injury, he is criminally liable for that injury. 3 Coin. v. Webster, 5 Cush. 306 Corn. v. Hawley, 7 Met. 506 4 Corn. v. Mink, 123 Mass. 422, where A accidentally killed B while in- tending to kill herself and was found guilty of the manslaughter of B. In Con. v. Doi-is, 287 Pa. 547 and Coin. v. Heinlein, 256 Mass. 387 it was held that a killing during the commission of a felony constituted murder although the separate de- fendants in above cases were not the murderers, but one of the con- spirators. In St. v. Presnell, 12 Iredell 103, Raffin, C. J. said, When the act is unlawful ald. voluntary, the quo animo is in-, ferred necessarily from the act. Also, Intent is generally inferred from the commission of the act as it is manifested by the facts and circumstances connected with the perpetration of the offense, Land, J. in State v. Howard, 162 La. 719. Bex v. Hunt, 1 Mood 93; larvick v. State, 49 Ark. 514

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