On Mistake Of Fact In Criminal Law

In the criminal law, mistake, a substantial content topic, is not antonymous with correctness, but refers to the inconsistency of subjectivity and objectivity. Mistake"not only affects the mens rea and the criminal responsibility, but also involves the attempted offense and the accomplished offense."Mistake of fact, owing to its complexity and diversity, proves a worth-investigated topic for studying the issue of mistake, and therefore arises a wide range of controversies in the field of laws around such topics as the scope of mistake of fact, the relationship and distinction between various types of mistake of fact, and its principles. This thesis argues that clarifying mistake, especially the basic cognition of mistake of fact functions greatly both in the theory circle and in the judicial practice. The thesis begins with clarifying the fundamental theories in mistake, focuses on the basic arguments in the mistake of fact in attempt to seek a superior way of combining subjectivity and objectivity to be as its principle in order to realize rational use of criminal responsibility, maintain the social justice and defend human rights of criminals.Part one elaborates the basic concept and characteristics of mistake, the definition of mistake theory in criminal law and division of various types of mistake. In researching the issues over mistake, two similar but not the same concepts—mistake and mistake of cognition are used frequently. The accurate definition of a researching object is critical to the foundation of the thesis. By means of analyzing language meaning, usage liability and...