Intent is everything here, so if – in liability cases only – the prosecution doesn’t need to prove that the person accused of the offending actually intended to commit the offence.

The honest and reasonable mistake means that the accused didn’t realise or know that the actions they took were wrong. This is a classic defence used for people driving without proper licensing, with the driver believing their licence to be valid. It is also used with proceeds of crime – if you don’t know what you have is stolen, then what can you do?

Honest and reasonable must be proved or disproved, with reasonable not being as easy to prove as honest.

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