Even the
requirement of knowledge is subject to certain limitations. A man
must find out at his peril things which a reasonable and prudent
man would have inferred from the things actually known. In some
cases, especially of statutory crimes, he must go even further,
and, when he knows certain facts, must find out at his peril
whether the other facts are present which would make the act
criminal. A man who abducts a girl from her parents in England
must find out at his peril whether she is under sixteen.
[76] In some cases it may be that the consequence of the act,
under the circumstances, must be actually foreseen, if it is a
consequence which a prudent man would not have foreseen. The
reference to the prudent man, as a standard, is the only form in
which blameworthiness as such is an element of crime, and what
would be blameworthy in such a man is an element;--first, as a
survival of true moral standards; second, because to punish what
would not be blameworthy in an average member of the community
would be to enforce a standard which was indefensible
theoretically, and which practically was too high for that
community.
In some cases, actual malice or intent, in the common meaning of
those words, is an element in crime.
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