General Defences

General Defences in United Kingdom

Definition of General Defences

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of General Defences : Common-law defences to any common-law or statutory crimes: with one exception (*insanity), these defences relate to *involuntary conduct. A defendant should be acquitted when the magistrates or jury have a reasonable doubt as to whether he was entitled to a general defence. By contrast, special defences are confined to individual offences, are usually of statutory origin, and usually place a *burden of proof on the defendant to show that he acted reasonably.

See also automatism; impossibility; mistake; self-defence.