Criminal Law (summary)

A crime is an illegal act which in various countries could be understood differently.
In many legal systems a person cannot be found guilty until the state proves he committed a crime. Therefore, the elements of crime are detailed in statutes. There could be particular circumstances of each crimes and very different. There are two important elements to a crime expressed in Latin terms: Actus Reus (the criminal act itself), Mens Rea (the criminal state of mind of the person when he committed the act). Court must be sure that the act was a substantial cause of the result. There are cases when person can avoid guilt if he has defenses. There should be mentioned defense of duress, insanity, intoxication, self - defense. If there is a crime of passion, punishment could be mitigated.
Finally, criminal law is the fastest growing area of the law because it regulates almost every kind of human behavior.