Criminal Law Code as at 1st March 2007 “mistake”, in relation to a fact, means an erroneous impression concerning that fact. 233 When mistake or ignorance of fact a defence to subjective crimes (1) If a person does or omits to do anything which would be an essential element of a crime if done or omitted, as the case may be, with any form of intention, knowledge or realisation, the person shall have a complete defence to a charge of committing that crime if, when he or she did or omitted to do the thing, he or she was genuinely mistaken or ignorant as to an essential fact of the crime concerned. (2) Subject to this Code and any other enactment, mistake or ignorance of an essential fact may be a defence to a crime referred to in subsection (1) even if it is not reasonable: Provided that the reasonableness or unreasonableness of any mistake or ignorance may be taken into account in determining whether or not it is genuine. 234 When mistake or ignorance of fact a defence to objective crimes If a person does or omits to do anything which would be an essential element of a crime if done or omitted, as the case may be, negligently, the person shall have a complete defence to a charge of committing that crime if⎯ (a) when he or she did or omitted to do the thing, he or she was genuinely mistaken or ignorant as to an essential fact of the crime concerned; and (b) the person’s mistake or ignorance of that essential fact was reasonable in all the circumstances. PART VIII MISTAKE OR IGNORANCE OF LAW 235 Interpretation in Part VIII of Chapter XIV In this Part⎯ “ignorance”, in relation to a law, means complete lack of knowledge that the law exists; “law” means this Code or any other enactment; “mistake”, in relation to a law, means an erroneous impression as to the nature or contents of that law. 236 When mistake or ignorance of law a defence (1) Subject to this Part, if a person⎯ (a) does or omits to do anything which is an essential element of a crime in terms of any law; and (b) when he or she did or omitted to do the thing, he or she did not know that his or her conduct was unlawful because he or she was genuinely mistaken or ignorant as to the relevant provisions of the law; the person shall not have a complete defence to a charge of committing that crime unless the person’s mistake or ignorance as to the relevant provisions of the law was directly brought about by advice given to him or her by an administrative 19officer whom he or she had reason to 19 As amended by s. 31 of Act 9/2006 [deletion of "or judicial" before "officer"]. - 124 -