Also known as: ignorantia · ignorant · ignorantly · ignorantia juris · ignorance of law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A state of unawareness by a user or endangered person regarding the dangerous character of a supplied chattel. This unawareness prevents contributory negligence and supports liability for the supplier when the supplier knew or had reason to know the chattel would not be made safe before the expected use.
A state of unawareness by a user or endangered person regarding the dangerous character of a supplied chattel. This unawareness prevents contributory negligence and supports liability for the supplier when the supplier knew or had reason to know the chattel would not be made safe before the expected use.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A lack of knowledge or a mistaken belief about a fact or law that negates the purpose, knowledge, belief, recklessness, or negligence required to establish a material element of an offense, or that the law otherwise recognizes as a defense.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A lack of knowledge or a mistaken belief about a fact or law that negates the purpose, knowledge, belief, recklessness, or negligence required to establish a material element of an offense, or that the law otherwise recognizes as a defense.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Ivy Investments supplied a defective ladder to its subcontractor for routine maintenance work. The subcontractor employee used the ladder without realizing its rungs had been weakened by prior damage. When the ladder collapsed, the employee suffered serious injuries. Because the employee remained ignorant of the ladder's dangerous condition, Ivy Investments faces liability for the resulting physical harm.
Acme Equipment sold a used conveyor to Beta Manufacturing knowing the guardrails were loose. Beta's plant manager, unaware of the defect, assigned workers to operate the machine. One worker lost a finger when the belt threw a part. The worker's ignorance of the danger preserved Acme's liability under the rule even though Acme had mentioned the issue only to the manager.
A supplier remains liable when it knows or has reason to know the chattel will not be made safe before the expected use and the user or endangered person is ignorant of the danger. The user's ignorance prevents a finding of contributory negligence that would otherwise bar recovery.
Supporting sources
Isaiah Ishikawa directed drivers to dump treated industrial soil at a municipal landfill after reviewing only a partial permit summary that omitted any industrial-waste restriction. The charging statute required knowledge or recklessness that the waste was prohibited. Ishikawa's ignorance of the unpublished restriction meant he lacked the mental state the statute demanded.
Imran Iyer believed his possession of a controlled substance was lawful because an official administrative order later invalidated by a court had authorized the activity. The law expressly treats the mental state produced by reasonable reliance on such an official statement as a defense to the charged offense.
India Inoue moved into a new city and remained unaware of a local ordinance requiring convicted felons to register with police within five days. She took no affirmative steps that would have alerted her to the duty. Because the ordinance imposed a wholly passive obligation without any notice reasonably calculated to reach her, due process barred conviction based on her ignorance.
Isaac Irving, an indigent defendant facing felony charges, stood trial without an attorney because he did not know the Constitution guaranteed appointed counsel. The trial court did not inform him of that right. His resulting conviction was reversed because ignorance of the constitutional guarantee could not be permitted to forfeit the fundamental protection.
Ignorance or mistake is a defense when it negates the purpose, knowledge, belief, recklessness, or negligence required for a material element of the offense. The defense succeeds if the defendant's actual mental state, formed from the information available, fails to satisfy the statute's culpability requirement.
Supporting sources
Yes. When a statute or other provision expressly makes the state of mind produced by ignorance or mistake a defense, the defense is available even if the ignorance does not negate an element under the first clause of the rule.
Supporting sources
The defense is unavailable if the defendant would be guilty of another offense had the facts been as supposed. In that situation the ignorance or mistake reduces the grade or degree of the offense rather than providing a complete acquittal.
Supporting sources
…frequency and it listed three causes of "this general demoralization": "The first of these causes is a wide-spread popular ignorance of the true character of the crime— a belief, even among mothers themselves, that the foetus is not alive till after the period of quickening. "The second of the agents alluded to is the…