Proof of intent

The disputable presumption ‘that a person intends the ordinary consequences of his voluntary act’ applies in both civil and criminal cases

Intent, being a condition of the mind, may be averred or alleged generally (see Section 5, Rule 8, 2019 Rules of Civil Procedure).

The alleged intent must be proved. If the act is alleged to have been done with intent to commit a crime or felony, it is essential that the facts and circumstances showing the existence of the intent must be proven.

“[A] cardinal doctrine of criminal law, founded in natural justice, is, that it is the intention with which an act was done that constitutes its criminality.

“The intent and the act must both concur, to constitute the crime. ‘Actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea’” (A treatise on the Law of Evidence, Wigmore, Greenleaf, and Harriman).

“[I]f it be alleged that the prisoner [or accused] cut the prosecutor, with intent to murder or disable him, and to do him some great bodily harm, and the evidence be merely of an intent to prevent a lawful arrest, it is a fatal variance; unless it appears that he intended the injury alleged, for the purpose of preventing the arrest” (A treatise on the Law of Evidence, Wigmore, Greenleaf, and Harriman).

“[T]he intent must therefore be proved, as well as the other material facts in the indictment [or criminal charge].

“The proof may be either by evidence, direct or indirect, tending to establish the fact; or by inference of law from other facts proved” (A treatise on the Law of Evidence, Wigmore, Greenleaf, and Harriman).

“For though it is a maxim of law… that every person is to be presumed innocent until he is proved to be guilty; yet it is a rule equally sound, that every sane person must be supposed to intend that which is the ordinary and natural consequence of his own purposed act” (A treatise on the Law of Evidence, Wigmore, Greenleaf, and Harriman).

“Therefore, ‘where an act, in itself indifferent, becomes criminal if done with a particular intent, there the intent must be proved and found; but where the act is in itself unlawful, the proof of justification or excuse lies on the defendant; and, in failure thereof, the law implies a criminal