Practice question · Multiple choice
Participation in crime is strictly accessory to the principal deed rather than an independent wrong. What follows from this principle when the main perpetrator acts under a recognised legal justification?
Hints
- What fundamental element of the principal deed does a legal justification eliminate?
- Does accessory liability attach to the personal guilt of the perpetrator, or to the objective unlawfulness of the deed?
Show the answer
C. The secondary party avoids liability because no unlawful act took place
Why
Secondary liability requires an act that is both typical and unlawful. If justification negates wrongfulness, no baseline offence exists to attach secondary liability to. Culpability defects in the principal leave liability intact, but lack of unlawfulness clears all secondary participants.
Practise Attempt, Desistance and Participation
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