MPC 1.

13
General Definitions.

In this Code, unless a different meaning plainly is required:

. . .

(2) "act" or "action" means a bodily movement whether
voluntary or involuntary;

(3) "voluntary" has the meaning specified in Section 2.01;

(4) "omission" means a failure to act;

Model Penal Code 2.01
(1) A person is not guilty of an offense
unless his liability is based on conduct that
includes a voluntary act or the omission to
perform an act of which he is physically
capable.

Model Penal Code 2.01
(2) The following are not voluntary acts within the meaning
of this Section:

(a) a reflex or convulsion;

(b) a bodily movement during unconsciousness or sleep;

(c) conduct during hypnosis or resulting from hypnotic
suggestion;

(d) a bodily movement that otherwise is not a product of
the effort or determination of the actor, either conscious
or habitual.

Liability for omissions
1. Statutory duty to rescue / duty to report

2. Status. Examples: parent/child, spouse/spouse,
master/servant.

3. Contractual duty. Examples: doctor/patient, nursing
home/resident, nanny/child.

4. Assumption of care / seclusion of victim.

5. Causation of Risk. Example: motorist non-negligently
strikes person in the street and injures them.
Model Penal Code 2.01
(3) Liability for the commission of an offense may not be based on an
omission unaccompanied by action unless:

(a) the omission is expressly made sufficient by the law defining the
offense; or

(b) a duty to perform the omitted act is otherwise imposed by law.


(4) Possession is an act, within the meaning of this Section, if the
possessor knowingly procured or received the thing possessed or
was aware of his control thereof for a sufficient period to have been
able to terminate his possession.