Criminal law of elements

Overview

It is generally agreed that the essential ingredients of any crime are (1) a voluntary act or omission (actus reus), accompanied by (2) a certain state of mind (mens rea).
An act may be any kind of voluntary human behaviour.
Movements made in an epileptic seizure are not acts, nor are movements made by a somnambulist before awakening, even if they result in the death of another person.
Criminal liability for the result also requires that the harm done must have been caused by the accused.
The test of causal relationship between conduct and result is that the event would not have happened the same way without direct participation of the offender.