Also known as:juridical impossibilities · legal impossibility
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A defense to attempt liability that applies when the defendant's intended conduct would not constitute a crime even if completed exactly as planned under the circumstances the defendant believed to exist. The defense turns on the absence of an essential element of the target offense under those believed facts. It prevents conviction because the law does not criminalize the result the defendant sought to achieve.
Sources & Authorities
How it applies
Common Examples
3
Bar Grievance Affidavit Attempt
Marcia directed her paralegal to obtain a sworn affidavit from a former client falsely claiming a rival firm missed a filing deadline. The affidavit was to be submitted to bar counsel to support dismissal of a grievance against Marcia's firm. State guidelines expressly excluded client affidavits on timing issues from consideration and required decisions to rest solely on court records. Even if the affidavit had been submitted exactly as Marcia planned, it could never satisfy the materiality element of subornation of perjury.
Rating Firm Statement Attempt
Colby persuaded a former client to sign a sworn statement falsely inflating the client's net worth for submission to a private rating firm. Colby believed the firm would review the statement and downgrade a competitor. The firm's policies in fact excluded all individual investor data from its evaluations. Because the statement could never influence the ratings even under the facts Colby believed, the materiality element would be absent.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Cases
Common Law
Study Supplements
United States v. Mandujano499 F.2d 370, 376 (5th Cir. 1974)
Inactive Player Betting Scheme
Angela and Christina agreed that Angela would miss free throws to fix a game outcome for betting purposes. Both believed Angela would play, but league rules already barred her from participating due to an undisclosed injury. The agreement could never produce the intended result because Angela was legally ineligible to affect the game. The impossibility arose from the legal framework governing eligibility rather than from any unknown physical fact.
State v. Smith621 A.2d 493 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1993)
Common questions
Frequently Asked
4
How does juridical impossibility differ from factual impossibility?+
Juridical impossibility is a defense because the intended conduct would not be criminal even if completed under the facts the defendant believed to exist. Factual impossibility is not a defense because the conduct would be criminal if the unknown physical facts had been as the defendant believed.
Supporting sources
Does juridical impossibility require that the target offense contain an essential element that is legally absent?+
Yes. The defense applies when an essential element such as materiality would be missing even if the defendant completed every intended act under the believed circumstances. Without that element the completed conduct would not constitute the substantive crime.
Supporting sources
Can informal practices override formal rules when assessing juridical impossibility?+
No. Formal legal rules that categorically exclude the planned conduct control the analysis. Informal exceptions observed in other matters do not change the legal framework that renders the essential element absent under the defendant's believed facts.
Supporting sources
Is juridical impossibility available when the defendant misjudges the legal effect of the planned acts?+
No. The defense requires that the believed facts themselves would make the completed conduct noncriminal. A mistaken belief about whether the law would recognize the result as criminal does not trigger the defense.
Supporting sources
621 A.2d 493 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1993)Criminal Law
…virus can be transmitted by human saliva." Id. at 16. The Georgia statute, Ga. Code Ann. § 16-4-4, provides that factual or legal impossibility is not a defense to attempted murder, "if such crime could have been committed had the attendant circumstances been as the accused believed them to be." Id. at 18. The Georgia Court of…