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Legal impossibility

Criminal Law and Procedure Doctrine

Legal impossibility is a traditional common law defense to a charge of an attempted crime. It arises when the act, if completed, would not be a crime: a person believes they are committing a crime, but the act is in fact lawful, as when someone believes they are receiving stolen goods that are not in fact stolen. A hybrid form arises when the actor's goal is illegal but the crime is impossible because of a factual mistake about the legal status of an attendant circumstance, such as bribing someone wrongly believed to be a juror. The Model Penal Code did away with the defense, and some jurisdictions may find the actor guilty of attempt.

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Doctrine Category
Criminal Law 1
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Source Legal impossibility (Wikipedia)
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1. Wikipedia: Legal impossibility
a traditional common law defense to a charge of an attempted crime; arises when the act, if completed, would not be a crimeView the Source
Legal impossibility (Wikipedia)
  • Lead section
    Legal impossibility is a traditional common law defense to a charge of an attempted crime.
  • In Legal System: Common Law, Wikipedia lead sentence
    Legal impossibility is a traditional common law defense to a charge of an attempted crime
  • In Group: Criminal Fault, Intent and Defence Doctrines, Introduction, sentence 1
    Legal impossibility is a traditional common law defense to a charge of an attempted crime.
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