Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner
[1969] 1 QB 439
Ratio Decidendi
Where an act constituting the actus reus is a continuing act, the mens rea need not be present at the inception of the act but may be superimposed upon it while it is still continuing. The actus reus and mens rea must coincide at some point, but the actus reus need not be a single instantaneous event.
Ffeithiau
A police officer directed Fagan to park his car. Fagan accidentally drove onto the officer's foot. When the officer shouted at him, Fagan refused to move the car, saying 'F*** you, you can wait.' He was convicted of assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duty.
Crynodeb o'r dyfarniad
The Divisional Court upheld the conviction. The court held that driving onto the foot and remaining there was a continuing act. Although Fagan may not have had mens rea when he first drove onto the foot (it was accidental), his subsequent refusal to move — with the intention to remain — meant that the mens rea coincided with the continuing actus reus.
Dyfyniadau allweddol
"There was an act constituting a battery which at its inception was not criminal because there was no element of intention but which became criminal from the moment the intention was formed to produce the apprehension which was flowing from the continuing act."
— James J
Triniaeth ddilynol
Applied in continuing act situations and frequently cited in criminal law textbooks on the coincidence of actus reus and mens rea.