미국형법상 착오의 유형과 그 내용

As with Continental Criminal Law, Anglo-American Criminal Law has the rules on the Mistake of Fact and Mistake of Law. In case of Mistake of Fact, it divides specific-intent offences and general-intent offences. In specific-intent offences, a defendant is not guilty of a specific-intent crime if her mistake of fact negates the specific-intent element of the offence. And in general-intent offences, a defendant is not guilty of a general-intent offence if her mistake of fact was reasonable, but an unreasonable mistake of fact does not exculpate. However, the Model Penal Code dispenses with the common law distinction between 'general-intent' and 'specific-intent' offences, so that the mistake-of-fact rule applies to all offences in the same manner. On the other hand, from the ancient time the legal refrain "Ignorance of law is no excuse." rules in the Anglo-American legal system. Because knowledge of law is not an element of an offence, a mistake of law - even a reasonable one - does not ordinarily relieve an actor of liability for the commission of a criminal offence. But there are some exceptions. Firstly, a defendant is not guilty of an offence if her mistake of law, whether reasonable or unreasonable, negates an element of the crime charged. But, a person isnot guilty of a criminal offence if, at the time of the offence, he reasonably relied on an official statement of the law, later determined to be erroneous, obtained from a person or public body with responsibility for the interpretation, administration, or enforcement of the law defining the offence.