Multiple Choice Q’s
Question 1
A. According to the absolute theory, punishment is an end in itself, while according to the
relative theories, punishment is a means to a secondary end.
This statement is correct. See SG 1.2.1.
B. The effectiveness of the theory of general deterrence depends on...
Question 1
A. According to the absolute theory, punishment is an end in itself, while according to the
relative theories, punishment is a means to a secondary end.
This statement is correct. See SG 1.2.1.
B. The effectiveness of the theory of general deterrence depends only on the severity of
the punishment that is imposed on an offender.
This statement is incorrect. See SG 1.2.5.2.
C. The “triad in Zinn” (the crime, the criminal and interests of society) enables a court to
consider all the theories of punishment when imposing sentence
This statement is correct. See SG 1.2.7.
.
(1) All the statements are correct.
(2) Only statement (a) is correct.
(3) Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
(4) Only statement (c) is correct.
(5) Only statement (b) is correct.
Question 2
a. The correct sequence of investigation into the elements of criminal liability is conduct,
compliance with definitional elements, culpability and unlawfulness.
This statement is incorrect. The correct sequence of investigation is conduct,
compliance with definitional elements, unlawfulness and culpability. See SG 1.7.3
b. Crimes are directed against public interests, while delicts are directed against private
interests.
This statement is correct. See SG 1.8.
c. A statutory provision will best comply with the principle of legality if it contains a criminal
norm only.
This statement is incorrect. A statutory provision will best comply with the principle of
legality if, apart from a criminal norm, it also contains a criminal sanction. See
SG 2.4.2.
(1) Only statement (b) is correct.
(2) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
(3) None of the statements is correct.
(4) Only statement (a) is correct.
(5) Only statement (c) is correct.
Question 3
a. In concluding that the extended definition of the crime of rape should not apply
retrospectively to the accused, the Constitutional Court in Masiya v DPP 2007 (2)
SACR 435 (CC) respected the ius praevium rule.
This statement is correct. See SG 2.5.
b. The rules embodying the principle of legality (ius acceptum, ius praevium, ius certum
and ius strictum) are applicable to both the crime and the punishment to be imposed.
This statement is correct. See definition in grey block in SG 2.3.2 and SG 2.8.
, c. The Constitution contains a provision which expressly sets out the ius acceptum rule.
This statement is incorrect. See SG 2.4.
All the statements are correct.
Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
Only statement (a) is correct.
Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
Only statement (b) is correct.
Question 4
a. Conduct is voluntary if it is willed.
This statement is incorrect. See SG 3.3.4.1.
b. Relative force excludes X’s ability to subject his bodily movements to his will or intellect.
This statement is incorrect. See SG 3.3.4.2a.
c. Sane automatism refers to cases in which X relies on the defence of mental illness
This statement is incorrect. Insane automatism refers to cases in which X relies on the
defence of mental illness. See SG 3.3.4.2c ii
.
Only statement (b) is correct.
Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
None of the statements is correct.
Only statement (a) is correct.
Question 5
a. Antecedent liability is a qualification of the rule that bodily movements performed in a
condition of automatism do not result in criminal liability.
b. There is a legal duty upon X to act positively if the legal convictions of the community
require him to do so.
c. In Leeuw 1975 (1) SA 439 (O) it was held that mere inconvenience in complying with a
legal duty did not constitute impossibility.
(1) Only statement (b) is correct.
(2) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
All the statements are correct.
Only statement (c) is correct.
Question 6
a. In formally defined crimes, the definitional elements proscribe a certain type of conduct
irrespective of what the result of the conduct is.
b. An act is a conditio sine qua non for a situation if the act can be thought away without the
situation disappearing at the same time.
c. In Tembani 2007 (1) SACR 355 (SCA), the court held that negligent medical treatment
would not be regarded as a novus actus interveniens in a situation where X deliberately
inflicted an intrinsically fatal wound
.
(1) Only statement (a) is correct.
(2) Only statement (b) is correct.
(3) All the statements are correct.
(4) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
(5) Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
Question 7
a. Mental illness is a ground of justification which excludes the unlawfulness of conduct.
b. X can rely on private defence if he defends himself against an attack by an animal.
, c. There is an irrebuttable presumption that a child who is below the age of seven lacks criminal
capacity.
(1) None of the statements is correct.
(2) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
(3) Only statement (c) is correct.
(4) Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
(5) Only statement (a) is correct.
Question 8
a. The test for negligence is described as objective because it is not concerned with what X
actually thought or knew or foresaw, but only with what a reasonable person in the same
circumstances would have foreseen.
This statement is correct. See SG 11.2.
b. The mere fact that somebody has committed an error of judgment does not necessarily
mean that he was negligent.
This statement is correct. See SG 11.5.2(6). The reasonable person is not a perfectly
programmed automaton who can never make a mistake. As an ordinary flesh-and-blood
human being he can, like any other person, commit an error of judgment. Therefore, if it is
proved that the reasonable person would have made the same error of judgment as X
made, in the same circumstances faced by X, then X would not be negligent.
c. If X is charged with culpable homicide, but the evidence brings to light that X acted
intentionally, he may still be convicted of culpable homicide provided his conduct did not
measure up to the standard of the reasonable person.
This statement is correct. See SG 11.7. In Ngubane 1985 (3) SA 677 (A), the Appeal
Court held that it was incorrect to assume that proof of intention necessarily excludes a
finding of negligence. The facts of a particular case may reveal that, although X acted
intentionally, he also acted negligently in that his conduct did not measure up to the
standard of the reasonable person.
(1) All the statements are correct.
(2) Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
(3) Only statement (a) is correct.
(4) Only statement (a) and (b) are correct.
(5) Only statement (b) is correct.
Question 9
a. The principle of contemporaneity means that there must have been culpability on the part of X
at the very moment when the unlawful act was committed.
b. Mistake relating to the chain of causation may exclude intention provided that the actual chain
of events differed materially from that envisaged by the perpetrator.
c. A good motive always excludes intention.
All the statements are correct.
Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
Only statement (a) is correct.
Only statement (b) is correct.
Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
Question 10
a. Provocation can never serve as a ground for the mitigation of punishment.
b. Strict liability is found in statutory crimes only.
c. A corporate body such as a company cannot be convicted of a crime.
(1) None of the statements is correct.
(2) Only statement (b) is correct.
(3) Only statement (c) is correct.
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