Which of the following is not a fundamental quantity?

You are in a jurisdiction with the following legal standard for insanity:  A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.  Which of the following does this standard most closely align with?

Which of the following statements is true regarding the defense of insanity using the M’Naghten standard?

Suppose the same facts as above, except that on this particular afternoon, Andy knew of the impending storm and did not want to go boating at all. However, his cousin Jay demanded that Andy take him out on the neighbor’s boat. Andy initially refused, but Jay threatened to report prior instances in which Andy went “joyboating” without the neighbor’s permission. Afraid of getting in trouble with his parents or the authorities, Andy gave in and took Jay out on the neighbor’s boat. Again, the storm arrived, the high winds created an imminent danger of capsizing, and Andy decided to use a too-small dock so he and Jay could get off the boat. Again, the boat and the dock were badly damaged. Again, Andy is charged with larceny and destruction of property. If Andy raises the affirmative defense of duress, is he likely to succeed?

Justin, who weighs over two hundred pounds and is six feet tall, accidentally bumps into Wanda, a slender ten-year-old child. Wanda spins around and shakes her fist at Justin. Justin responds by shoving Wanda so hard that she crashes into a telephone pole and is killed. Justin probably cannot claim self-defense under these circumstances. Why is Justin unlikely to successfully claim self-defense in this situation?

Andy lives near a lake, and he knows that a wealthy neighbor has a large lakefront estate and a gleaming new boat. One beautiful summer day when he knows that his neighbor is traveling, Andy decides to “borrow” the boat for an afternoon but return it before sundown. He is out on the lake for only a short while when he realizes that a storm is moving in. At first, Andy decides to stay out on the lake, confident that the large boat can withstand the storm. Soon, however, high winds make it dangerous to stay on the water. After seeing another boat capsize, Andy fears for his own life and decides to bring the boat into the nearest dock. Unfortunately, as Andy realizes, the nearest dock is too small for the neighbor’s large boat. Andy manages to dock the boat and get to dry land, but soon both the boat and the dock are damaged beyond repair. Andy is later charged with larceny of the boat (with larceny defined as that offense was defined at common law) and destruction of property with regard to the dock (defined as intentionally or knowingly causing damage to the property of another). Is Andy likely to succeed with a necessity defense?

Which of the following best describes a mistake in fact?

Which of the following best describes the final result of the Casey Anthony case?

Alex and Gregory work at the same restaurant. Alex is a server and Gregory is a host. Gregory keeps seating multiple parties all at once in Alex’s section thereby overwhelming Alex and causing Alex to give his customers delayed service. Alex has spoken to Gregory multiple times about pacing better but Gregory keeps engaging in the same behavior. Alex loses his temper and swings a fist to hit Gregory. Alex misses and hits the customer standing right by Gregory. As a result of the swing, the customer suffers a broken nose. Alex is charged with Aggravated Battery. Even though Alex didn’t mean to hit the customer, he is still criminally responsible under which doctrine?

Generally the law does not criminalize a failure to act unless there is a legal duty saying otherwise. In the scenarios described below, which of the defendants did not have a legal duty to act?