CRW2601 - General Principles Of Criminal Law (CRW2601)
Institution
University Of South Africa (Unisa)
These are Exam MULTIPLE CHOICE questions and solutions as well as those that were found in assignments, study guides and practice questions. When you work through these you will gain an excellent understanding of concepts, theories, techniques and methods which will allow you to answer exam questio...
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.
(b) The effectiveness of the theory of general deterrence depends only on the severity of the
punishment that is imposed on an offender.
(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.
(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.
(b) Crimes are directed against public interests, while delicts are directed against private
interests.
(c) A statutory provision will best comply with the principle of legality if it contains a criminal
norm only.
(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.
(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.
(c) The Constitution contains a provision which expressly sets out the ius acceptum rule.
(1) All the statements are correct.
(2) Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
(3) Only statement (a) is correct.
(4) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
(5) Only statement (b) is correct.
Question 4
(a) Conduct is voluntary if it is willed.
(b) Relative force excludes X’s ability to subject his bodily movements to his will or intellect.
(c) Sane automatism refers to cases in which X relies on the defence of mental illness.
(1) Only statement (b) is correct.
(2) Only statements (b) and (c) are correct.
(3) Only statements (a) and (c) are correct.
(4) None of the statements is correct.
(5) 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.
, (3) Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
(4) All the statements are correct.
(5) 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.
(b) The mere fact that somebody has committed an error of judgment does not necessarily
mean that he was 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.
(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.
(1) All the statements are correct.
(2) Only statements (a) and (b) are correct.
(3) Only statement (a) is correct.
(4) Only statement (b) is correct.
(5) 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.
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