In all these cases it will be found that there has been a
voluntary act on the part of the person to be charged. The reason
for this requirement was shown in the foregoing Lecture.
Unnecessary though it is for the defendant to have intended or
foreseen the evil which he has caused, it is necessary that he
should have chosen the conduct which led to it. But it has also
been shown that a voluntary act is not enough, and that even a
co-ordinated series of acts or conduct is often not enough by
itself. But the co-ordination of a series of acts shows a further
intent than is necessarily manifested by any single act, and
sometimes proves with almost equal certainty the knowledge of one
or more concomitant circumstances. And there are cases where
conduct with only the intent and knowledge thus necessarily
implied is sufficient to throw the risk of it on the actor.
For instance, when a man does the series of acts called [153]
walking, it is assumed for all purposes of responsibility that he
knows the earth is under his feet. The conduct per se is
indifferent, to be sure. A man may go through the motions of
walking without legal peril, if he chooses to practise on a
private treadmill; but if he goes through the same motions on the
surface of the earth, it cannot be doubted that he knows that the
earth is there.
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