Criminal Law Code as at 1st March 2007 (e) his or her liability is based upon unlawful conduct, that is, upon conduct for which there is no lawful excuse affording that person a complete defence to the criminal charge, whether in terms of Chapter XIV or otherwise. 10 Criminal conduct may consist of acts or omissions (1) Criminal conduct may consist of either an act or an omission. (2) A person shall not be held criminally liable for an omission nor shall he or she be guilty of the crime to which the omission relates unless⎯ (a) the crime for which the person is held liable is defined in such a way as to render criminal his or her failure to act; or (b) the person had a legal duty to act positively arising from⎯ (i) the existence of a protective or family relationship between himself or herself and another person which required him or her to protect the life, safety or any legal interest of that other person; or (ii) the creation by the person’s prior conduct of a situation in which another person’s life, safety or legal interest was or might be endangered; or (iii) his or her assuming control, by contract or otherwise, over a situation, whether brought about by him or her or not, in which another person’s life, safety or legal interest was or might be endangered; or (iv) his or her holding a public or like office. 11 Causation (1) A person shall not be held criminally liable for a consequence unless the person’s conduct caused or substantially contributed to its occurrence. (2) A person’s conduct shall be deemed to have caused or substantially contributed to a consequence for the purposes of subsection (1) if the conduct⎯ (a) is the factual cause of the consequence, that is, but for the conduct the consequence would not have occurred; and (b) is the legal cause of the consequence, that is, the consequence⎯ (i) was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of his or her conduct; or (ii) was brought about by a new cause supervening after his or her conduct, which cause was itself a reasonably foreseeable consequence of his or her conduct. PART III STATES OF MIND 12 Meaning of subjective state of mind For the purposes of this Part, a subjective test for a state of mind is a test whereby a court decides whether or not the person concerned actually possessed that state of mind at the relevant time, taking into account all relevant factors that may have influenced that person’s state of mind. - 20 -