Uncompleted or inchoate crimes - Essay Example

mstances and among different cultures and continents that Common Law postulates were fashioned, modified, edited and altered – not abruptly but subtly, through decades of observation and application in the form of verdicts from the courts of law – and what can be seen today is the end result of absorption through years of diverse ethos and interaction between cultural and societal forces at work in numerous societies. Common legal principles and concepts as ‘Magna Charta’, ‘Bill of Rights’, ‘Habeas Corpus’ and even ‘Right of trial by jury’ have their origins in Common Law.

The evolution of Common Law has been a long natural process and is based on the principle of stare decisis, a Latin clause that literally means "stand by things decided." To explain it further, the clause means a judge in a court of law has to apply the law as it is presented to him through previous decisions of courts of law. But this does not really prevent judges from making a law as they can and, almost always do, introduce changes that obviously cannot be revolutionary but subtle in nature and an accumulation of such subtle changes finally lead to a marked alteration in the present version of the law as compared to its original form.

(Neilson, 1882) Though Common Law originated in England and still forms the basis of prevalent laws in England, Wales and Ireland, it also wields deep influence on legal systems of United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and many other commonwealth countries. However, with the passage of time, it has been observed that most countries have veered towards a system where distinctions between Common Law and Civil Law (or, codified law) have increasingly been obliterated as jurisprudence (for all practical purposes another name for Common Law) gained importance in countries following Civil Law and statutes and codes were more often cited in countries following Common Law.

There are two concepts – actus reus (the