Lim Chin Aik v R [1963] AC 160
Citation: Lim Chin Aik v R [1963] AC 160
Rule of thumb: Can strict liability crimes be defended? Yes, but the onus is on the defender to prove that absolutely every precaution was taken & they could not have done any more, with some other mistake or factor of another person being the true cause of the breach.
Judgment:
the facts of this were that Aik had entered Singapore without immigration rights to be there. Aik was banned from Singapore, but, had never been informed of this. Aik was charged and prosecuted for this offence and appealed. The conviction was overturned and quashed. It was held that strict liability does not apply in all scenarios – where someone has taken every possible measure to have prevented a crime and could not have known that he was committing a crime, then there is no strict liability for the crime, ‘But it is not enough in their Lordship’s opinion merely to label the statute as one dealing with a grave social evil and from that to infer that strict liability was intended. It is pertinent also to inquire whether putting the defendant under strict liability will assist in the enforcement of the regulations. That means that there must be something he can do, directly or indirectly, by supervision or inspection, by improvement of his business methods or by exhorting those whom he may be expected to influence or control, which will promote the observance of the regulations. Unless this is so, there is no reason in penalising him, and it cannot be inferred that the legislature imposed strict liability merely in order to find a luckless victim’, Lord Evershed
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