Module 1

Introduction to Criminal Law

Only study guide for CRW1501

Department of Criminal and Procedural Law

University of South Africa, Pretoria

© 2017 University of South Africa

All rights reserved

Contents
1 General ........................................................................................
2 Course outcomes ........................................................................
3 Subdivision of criminal law into two modules .............................
4 Literature .....................................................................................
5 Method of study ..........................................................................
• Subdivision of study material in study guide ...........................
• Contents of study units ...........................................................
• What the icons represent ........................................................
• Important advice on how to study ...........................................
• General principles and specific crimes ....................................
• Abbreviations ..........................................................................
• Language: equal treatment of genders ....................................
Glossary..............................................................................................

1. GENERAL
Welcome to the first module in Criminal Law, CRW1501. We trust that you will enjoy
studying this module. Criminal law is one of the most interesting and topical law subjects
to study. Our aim is to assist you as much as we can in mastering this module. In this
introductory unit, we draw your attention to the subdivision of criminal law into two
modules and provide some advice on how to study the material.

Please refer to the tutorial letters for other essential information, such as assignment due
dates. Log on to myUnisa frequently (at least once a week).

2. COURSE OUTCOMES
This course should enable you to
 • identify and describe the arguments that may serve as a justification for
convicting and sentencing a person for a crime
• analyse and solve criminal-law-related problems by identifying, describing and
applying the relevant legal principles

3. SUBDIVISION OF CRIMINAL LAW INTO TWO MODULES

4. LITERATURE
There are no prescribed or recommended books for this module. This study guide is
sufficient for the purposes of studying this module. Therefore, you do not need to buy any
other textbooks. You will, however, notice that throughout this guide we refer to Snyman's
textbook on criminal law and the casebook. We do this for reference and further reading
purposes only. The references for these textbooks are as follows:

• Snyman CR Criminal Law 6th ed (2014) LexisNexis, Durban

5. METHOD OF STUDY

• Subdivision of study material in study guide

You will notice that the material in the study guide is subdivided into 11 study units. A study unit
is a unit or part of the syllabus that deals with a certain topic. You can divide the time you have at
your disposal (from the time you enrol until the time you write your examination) into 11 time units
and then study one study unit per time unit. This is a 12-credit module, which means 120 notional
hours are required for you to study this module effectively. This means that you should devote
about five (5) to ten (10) hours of active study to each unit. The remainder of the time should be
used to practise answering past examination papers. We also suggest that you make your own
summary of each study unit for revision purposes.

• Contents of study units

Each study unit is normally subdivided as follows:

o a list of learning outcomes that you should keep in mind when studying the study
unit
 o a short paragraph serving as an introduction or background to the discussion
that follows

o the actual exposition of the topic covered in the study unit; this makes up the
bulk of the study unit

o a glossary containing a list of important words and phrases from foreign

o a concise summary of the most important principles set out in the topic of the
study unit

o a number of "test yourself" or self-evaluation questions

The exposition of the topic may contain activities and feedback. This takes the form of
questions, which you should preferably first try to answer by yourself before looking at the
answers in the feedback section. If you try to learn the answers, without actually doing
the activities, you will not do well in this module. You must engage with the study material
and actually do the activities; only use the feedback to assess your own answers.

• What the icons represent

An icon is a small picture or other graphic symbol that conveys a certain message. We
use the following icons in this study guide:

This icon means: "Beware of the following typical mistake often made by students!"

This icon means: "Note the following hint or advice on how to study a certain part of the
material or how to answer a question in the examination!"

If a sentence or sentences are printed against a grey-coloured square background (also

The last icon (the screened block) refers to the definitions you should know for the
examination, because we expect you to know the definitions of certain concepts and
crimes for the examination. These definitions usually consist of only one sentence
(although the sentence may, admittedly, sometimes be rather long). By "know", we
mean that you must be able to write down the definition in your examination script
almost exactly as it appears in the study guide. The best way would be to try to
memorise the definition, but you are also free to give us your own version of it. However,
experience has taught us that students who do not memorise the definition, but rather try
to paraphrase it, often lose marks because their version omits important information.
To assist you in identifying the definitions that you should know for the examination (as
explained above), we have "screened" them off so that they are more conspicuous. We
will therefore not warn you repeatedly that you should know certain definitions well for the
examination; simply watch out for the screened block. When you see it, you should learn
the definition appearing in it so well that you will be able to rewrite it almost word for word
in the examination.

• Important advice on how to study

At the risk of preaching to the converted, we are taking the liberty of giving you a brief
"lecture" on how to study this module.

• You need to work hard to pass this module. Students of criminal law are sometimes
inclined to underestimate the subject because it deals with human actions that are
concrete and often spectacular, such as stealing, killing, raping, kidnapping and
damaging property. We advise you not to underestimate this subject. Some of the
concepts in criminal law are among the most difficult to master in the field of law. Don't
be misled into thinking that just because you regularly read about murder, rape,
robbery or other crimes in the newspapers, you can get away with reading the study
guide only superficially. In the examination, too, you cannot rely only on the type of
broad general knowledge that laypersons have of criminal law.

You need to make time each week to engage with the study material by reading to
understand it. Underline key phrases and then make summaries in the form of tables
or mind maps. Thereafter, you need to consolidate your learning by doing the activities
and then assessing your answers. Furthermore, you should engage with other
students on the myUnisa discussion forum. Finally, you will have to do past
examination papers and complete them within the required time.

• Try to understand the principles of criminal law, such as causation, private defence,
and intention, so that you can apply them to actual cases. Merely memorising page
upon page of the study guide, without understanding the principles underlying the
topics discussed, is of little use. Only a proper understanding of the basic principles
will enable you to answer the so-called problem-type questions satisfactorily in the
examination. A problem-type question is one in which you are not asked directly to
discuss a particular topic, but in which we give you a set of facts and expect you to
state whether one of the persons mentioned in the set of facts has committed a
particular crime, or whether he or she can rely on a particular defence. You must also
be able to substantiate your answers with theoretical knowledge, which you can know
only by learning the required facts and principles.
• An old but sound piece of advice is that you should not move on to a new principle
until you have mastered the preceding one on which it is based. The study material is
sequential and, like a building, is built from the ground up; therefore, you have to learn
 the foundations (basics) and then build upon these as you reach for new heights. The
study material has been "scaffolded" or structured to guide you in the most effective
way. Taking shortcuts and leaving out sections of the study material as you attempt to
"spot" questions will mostly backfire and will prevent you from climbing the ladder of
success in mastering this module.

• We advise you to make your own notes or summaries while studying the specific
topics.

• Although it is important that you understand the principles underlying a particular topic,
a knowledge of the principles (or framework of a topic) only is insufficient; you also
need to state some particulars regarding the principle (such as illustrations of its
application, the authority on which these principles are based or possible
exceptions thereto). You need to know your work very well and then you also have to
apply the appropriate knowledge to answer the required questions in detail. That is
why practising answering questions (e.g. in past examination papers) is so important,
as is the self-assessment thereof.

• Students often ask us how important it is to remember the names of cases. Let's
clarify this matter at the outset: It would be impossible to memorise the names of all
cases referred to in your study guide, and we do not expect you to do so. However, it
is a fact that decisions count among a law student's best friends, and since it is a good
policy not to forget the names of your best friends, we would advise you to concentrate
on remembering the names of the most important, leading cases. As we progress
through the course, we will draw your attention to some of the most important
decisions. You are also advised to underline the names of cases when referring to
them in the examination. This will help the examiner to identify the cases you mention
in your answers.

• However, please do not waste valuable time by attempting to memorise the case
references. A case reference is the set of dates, letters and numbers following the
name of the case, for example 1966 (2) SA 269 (A). In this reference, 1966 refers to
the year in which the judgment was reported (i.e. published); the (2) refers to the
volume number of the particular year; and the 269 is the page in the book where the
judgment begins. It is absolutely unnecessary to try to memorise these numbers and
letters, and we do not expect you to know them. Even if you fail to remember the name
of an important case in the examination, you can simply state: "It has been decided"
or "According to a decision", etc. The lecturers' primary aim in the examination is not
only to test your memory, but especially your comprehension and insight. Bear in mind
that proper comprehension and insight are also based on knowledge of the facts, so
you must start by learning the facts.
• In the course of the year, we will be issuing a number of tutorial letters. Please bear
in mind that these tutorial letters form an important part of the study material, which
you are required to master; sometimes a tutorial letter may even amend the study
guide. So always read your tutorial letters and make the required notes.

• You must study the whole study guide, including the topics that are discussed towards
the end of the guide. Your knowledge of some of these last topics may make the
difference between failing and passing the examination! So we are warning you not to
neglect the last portions of the study guide. We often find that in the examination,
students do reasonably well in questions dealing with topics that are discussed in the
first part of the study guide, but they often prove to have only a very superficial
knowledge – or none at all – of topics discussed towards the end of the study guide.
This shows us that some students do not leave sufficient time to finish studying ahead
of the examination.

• General principles and specific crimes

A study of criminal law comprises a study of both the general principles of criminal law
and the most important specific crimes.

By "general principles of criminal law", we mean those rules that normally apply to all, or
at least most, crimes. Examples include rules about the meaning of concepts such as
intention or negligence, or rules about when an accused person may rely on defences
such as insanity, intoxication, provocation or self-defence.

A study of the "specific crimes", on the other hand, comprises an analysis of the different
specific crimes by identifying and discussing the different requirements applicable to each
specific crime.

In this module, CRW1501, we discuss only the general principles of criminal law. In the
second module in Criminal Law, CRW2603, we discuss the most important specific
crimes.

In the second module, CRW2603, we deal with the crimes of murder and culpable
homicide. However, in the first module these two crimes are defined and referred to at
times as examples to illustrate the general principles. The particular reason for this is that
the distinguishing factors between these two crimes are intention and negligence, and
these two crimes are used to illustrate the difference between crimes requiring intention
and those requiring negligence. To follow the discussion of the general principles from
the beginning, it is therefore necessary to know what the definitions of these two crimes
are.
Murder is the unlawful, intentional causing of the death of another human being.
Culpable homicide is the unlawful, negligent causing of the death of another human
being.

The only difference between these two crimes, therefore, is that whereas intention is
required for murder, negligence is required for culpable homicide.

Hint: You are, of course, required to learn the definitions of murder and culpable
homicide.

• Abbreviations

• In the course of this study guide, when we refer to your prescribed textbook, namely
Snyman's Criminal Law, we will identify this book merely as Criminal Law. In this study
guide, all references to Criminal Law are to the 6th edition of this book (2014).
• With regard to the mode of citation of cases, the following method is applied: In
accordance with modern usage, we do not cite the full official name of cases, for
example S v Williams en 'n Ander 1970 (2) SA 654 (A), but simply the name, followed
by the case reference: Williams 1970 (2) SA 654 (A). This is the modern "streamlined"
method of citing cases.
• In the discussions that follow, we will often refer to the perpetrator or accused person
simply as X, and to the complainant or victim of the crime as Y.
• We often use the Latin words supra and infra. Supra means "above" and infra means
"below".

• Language: equal treatment of genders

In our discussions in the guide, we try to adhere to the principle of equal treatment of the
genders. We do this in the following way: In study units beginning with even numbers
(e.g. 2, 4, 6), the female form is used, while in all study units beginning with odd numbers
(e.g. 1, 3, 5), the male form is used. There are necessarily certain exceptions to the rule.
In cases such as the following, we do not change the genders: first, in the descriptions of
sets of facts in reported decisions; secondly, where we quote legislation (which, for the
most part, is drawn up in the masculine form directly; and thirdly, in the explanatory notes
to existing drawings (which, for practical reasons, unfortunately cannot be changed)
depicting males.
GLOSSARY

TERM ENGLISH ZULU

supra above ngenhla

infra below ngezansi