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INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860

PART-1
ALL IMPORTANT MAXIMS RELATED TO CRIMINAL LAW
S.N. MAXIM MEANING
1 Whenever any penal law is applied or construed , and that law is
Doctrine Pro Reo giving two interpretation, one lenient to the offender and one strict
to the offender , that interpretation which is lenient or favorable to
the offender will be adopted.
2 Nullum Crimen Sine There must be no crime or punishment, except in accordance with
Lege, Nulla Poena fixed predetermined law.
Sine Lege This maxim “Nulla Poena Sine lege” conveys four different rules,
No law, No Conviction namely,
or Punishment.
(1)Non retroactivity of penal laws.It means penal laws which are
(1)Non retroactivity of
against the interest of accused will not be applied from retrospective
penal laws. effect. But it does not prohibit accused form taking benefit of
(2) Penal statutes must restrospective laws. In the case of Rattan Lal vs. State of Punjab,
be construed strictly 1965 S.C. Supreme Court also interpreted article 20 (1) and said
(3)Certainty in that “ Ex post facto laws which are beneficial to the accused is not
legislation. prohibited by Art. 20(1) of the Constitution.In this case Justice
(4) Accessibility of the Subba Rao said, “the object of criminal law is more to reform the
laws. individual offender than to punish him.
(2) Penal statutes must be construed strictly. .It directly affects
Fundamental Rights. So it must be construed strictly.
(3) Certainty in legislation. It should not be construed in such a way
as to cover every act
(4) Accessibility of the laws. Laws are binding over every people.
So it must be published in proper way so that every people may
know it. Harla vs. State of Rajasthan, 1952 S.C. “It would be
against the Principle of natural justice to permit the subjects of a
State to be penalized by laws of which they had no knowledge and
of which they could not even with the exercise of due diligence have
acquired any knowledge . Natural justice required that before a law
can be operative it must be promulgated and published.
3 Actus non facit reum , The act itself does not make a man guilty, unless the mind is also
nisi mens sit rea guilty. There are four essentials ingredient of crime, namely,(1)
Sherras v. De Rutzen Human Being (2) Guilty Mind (3) Prohibited act, (4) An injury to
1895. human being or society.This maxim denotes that guilty mind and
Justice Wright prohibited act both are part and parcel of crime. It is rule that
without guilty mind, crime cannot be committed. Justice Wright
“In every statute mens rea is to be implied unless contrary is shown”
Brend vs. Wood, Justice Goddard, “The general rule applicable to
criminal case is actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea…It is of the of
the utmost importance for the protection of the liberty of the subject

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that a court should always bear in mind that, unless the statute,
either clearly or by necessary implication rules out mens rea as a
constituent part of a crime, a defendant should not be found guilty
of an offence against the criminal law unless h5e has got a guilty
mind”.
4 Actus me invito factus An act done by me against my will is not my act at all. (Section
non est mens actus 94- An act to which a person is compelled by threats…)
5 Autrefois acquit and Previous acquittal or previous conviction may be pleaded by the
Autrefois convict accused as a bar to the subsequent trail.
Article 20 (2) Article 20 (2) embodies only the principle Autrefois convict and
NOT Autrefois acquit. Previous prosecution as well as conviction
both is necessary for claiming the constitutional plea against second
trial for the same offence.
300(1) Cr.P.C. 300(1) Cr.P.C. embodies both Autrefois acquit as well as Autrefois
convict.
6 Nemo debet A man may not be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence.
proeadem causa bis Article 20 (2) & 300(1) Cr. P.C.
vexari
7 Ignorantia facit Ignorance of fact is excused, but ignorance of law is not excused.
excusat Ignorantia Section 76 of IPC.
juris non excusat
8 Ignorance of law is no (1) Ignorantia juris non excusat (2) Ignorantia legis non excusat (3)
excuse( Sec.76 of IPC) Ignorantia legis neminem excusat
9 Ignorance corumquoe Ignorance of those things which one is bound to know does not
scire tenetur non excuse.
excusat(Sec.76 of
IPC)
10 Quod necessitas non Immediate necessity does no know law. Section 81 ,IPC.
habet legem
11 Doli Incapax A person is deemed incapable of forming the intent to commit a
Sections 82 and 83 crime or tort, especially by reason of age. Sections 82 and 83 ( In
case of section 83, if a child is not capable to understand nature and
consequence of his conduct on that occasion).
12 Doli Capax Sections Capable of committing the crime. Section 83 and other section.
83andother sections (In case of section 83, if a child is capable to understand nature and
consequence of his conduct on that occasion).
13 Non compos mentis The Latin non compos mentis translates as “of unsound mind”
Sections 84 to 86 There are four kinds of persons who may be said to be not of sound
mind, namely, (1) An idiot (2) A lunatic or a madman (3) Non
compos mentis by reason of illness (4) One who is drunk
14 Furiosis nulla A man mad has no will.( Without mens rea person cannot be
voluntas Section 84 convicted- Actus non facit reum , nisi mens sit rea) Sec.84

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15 Furiosus absentis low A mad man is like one who is absent. Section 84
est Section 84
16 Furiosus furore sui A mad man is punished by his own madness Section 84
punier
KIND OF INSANITY There are two kinds of insanity,(1) Insanity by birth (2) Insanity
after birth
17 Dementia naturalis Individuals who are insane by birth
18 Dementia adventitia Individuals who becomes insane after his birth.
or accidentialis
19 Compos mentis "having control of one's mind"
20 Delirium tremens It is a kind of insanity, it occurs due to over drinking or habitual
(Medical Juris.) drinking
21 Volenti non fit injuria To which a man consents cannot be considered an injury. Section 87
22 De minimis non curat Law does not concern itself with trifles. Section 95. Rupan Deol
lex Bajaj vs. KPS Gill, 1996 S.C. Courtheld that section 95 is not
applied in case of offences against women. In this case the Court did
not applied section 95.
120A CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY
23 Actus contra actum A contract contrary to law.
ATTEMPT SECTION 511
24 Inchoate crime An inchoate offense, preliminary crime, or inchoate crime,
incomplete crime is a crime of preparing for or seeking to commit
another crime. The most common example of an inchoate offense is
“attempt”
25 Doctrine of Locus An opportunity to withdraw from a contract or obligation before it is
Paenitentiae completed or to decide not to commit an intended crime. Malkiat
Singh vs. State of Punjab
8 November, 1968 S.C.
26 Cogitationis poenam No man can safely be punished for his guilty purpose, save so far as
nemo patitus they have manifested themselves in overt acts which themselves
proclaim his guilt. (Proximity Rule)(1) Abhayanand Mishra vs. State
of Bihar 1961 (2) Om Prakash vs. State of Punjab 1961 (3) Sudhir
Kumar Mukherjee vs. State of West Bengal, 1973 (4) State of
Maharastra vs. Mohammad Yakub, 1980

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MEANING OF
CRIME
Bentham “Offences are whatever the legislature has prohibited for
good or for bad reasons ….according to the principles of
utility , we give the name of offence to every act which we
think ought to be prohibited by reasons of some evil which it
produces or tends to produce.”
Henry Maine An ancient time, penal law is not the criminal law, but it
is wrong law.
UPPCS2002 Blackstone “Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of
UP Lower public law either forbidding or commanding it.”
Blackstone “Crime is violation of public right or duties due to the
whole community, considered as a community, in its social
aggregate capacity.”
Austin “A wrong which is pursued at the discretion of the injured
party and his representative is a civil injury. A wrong which
is pursued by the sovereign or his subordinate is a
crime.”
UPPCS2005 Stephan “Crime is an act forbidden by law and which is at the same
time revolting to the moral sentiments of the society.”
UPPCS2003 Kenny “Crimes are wrongs which sanction is punitive and is no way
remissible by any private person, but is remissible by crown
alone, if remissible at all.” Here sanction means punishment
and remissible means pardon by crown.
Keeton “A crime would seem to be any undesirable act which the
State finds it most convenient to correct by the institution of
proceedings for the infliction of a penalty, instead of leaving
the remedy to the discretion of some injured party.”
Millar “Crime is …to be commission or omission of an act
which the law forbids or commands under pain of a
punishment to be imposed by the State by a proceeding
in its own name.”

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IMPORTANT STATEMENTS

1 Justice “In every statute mens rea is to be implied unless contrary is shown”
Wright
2 Justice Brend vs. Wood, Justice Goddard, “It is of the of the utmost importance for
Goddard, the protection of the liberty of the subject that a court should always bear in
mind that, unless the statute, either clearly or by necessary implication rules
out mens rea as a constituent part of a crime,
3 Milton “They also serve who only stand and wait”. Later on it was used in law by
Lord Sumner in case of Barendra Kumar Ghosh vs. king Emperor, 23
Oct.1924.
4 Lord “They also serve who only stand and wait”. Barendra Kumar Ghosh vs.
Sumner king Emperor, 23 Oct.1924.P.C. Post Office case.
5 Sir Mahaboob Shah vs. Emperor, 1944, Sir Madhavan Nair, “…Care must be
Madhavan taken not to confuse same or similar intention with common intention, the
Nair partition which divides „their bonds‟ is often very thin ; nevertheless, the
distinction is real and substantial , and if overlooked , will result in
miscarriage of justice..”
6 Justice He advocated for abolition of death sentence. “Since every saint had a past
Krishna Iyer and every sinner a future ….”
7 Lord Lord Coleridge “To preserve one's life is generally speaking a duty, but it
Coleridge may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice it. War is full of instances
in which it is a man's duty not to live, but to die.” R. vs. Dudley and Stephan
8 Melvill 1876 R. vs. Govinda- Difference between culpable homicide and murder
9 Justice In the scheme of the Penal Code, culpable homicide' is genus and 'murder' its
Ranjit Singh specie. All 'murder' is 'culpable homicide' but not vice versa.
Sarkaria,1976
Difference between culpable homicide and murder
10 Justice “The distinction between preparation and attempt may be clear in some cases,
Raghubar but, in most of the cases, the dividing line is very thin. Nonetheless, it is a real
Dayal, distinction.” Abhayanand Mishra vs. State of Bihar.
11 Justice Abhayanand Mishra vs. State of Bihar. Definition of attempt- such an act need
Raghubar not be the penultimate act towards the commission of that offence but must
Dayal, be an act during the course of committing that offence.

LAW CENTRE -1, FOL, University of Delhi