GLOSSARY
Joint enterprise definition
What does Joint enterprise mean?
A joint enterprise arises where two or more persons embark on the commission of an offence.
Parties are joint principals where each does an act which is a cause of the actus reus; here each is liable for his own act, rather than for participating in the act of another, to the extent of his own mens rea. However, where two or more parties have a common purpose to commit an offence, but the act of one of them alone is the immediate cause of its commission, the doctrine of joint enterprise is engaged. This extends the liability of the other (ie non-principal) parties by making them guilty of the crime committed by the principal if they merely foresaw that the principal might do with the requisite mens rea an act of the kind which he did and which resulted in the crime; ie the test becomes one of contemplation.
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