Year: 1990
Type: article
Abstract: Can one become an accessory in crime by performing one's legal duty?Put in that way, the answer is an obvious no, but further thought reveals the snag.Performance of legal duty is not a wholly reliable defence for a person charged as accessory, because a court can so easily nullify the defence by holding that there is no legal duty to participate in a crime.We are faced with two opposing arguments, each of them both powerful and circular, like two contra-rotating whirlpools.Beware: if you fall into either of them you will at once lose the power of thought!(a) The law compels the performance of this duty; therefore doing it cannot involve the doer in a crime.Since the act is not a crime, it is OK to say that doing it is indeed the performance of a legal duty.(b) To do this would involve the doer in a crime; therefore doing it cannot be a legal duty, even though it may seem to be so.Hence it is OK to say that the doer in these circumstances is guilty of a crime.Both arguments obviously involve begging the question.The logical puzzle can be solved, and at the same time the honest citizen can be protected, if two assertions as to the law are accepted.
Source: Modern Law Review
Author: Glanville Williams
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Topic: Criminal Law and Policy
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1978206424