Barlow contended that the sugar was not entered by false denomination and he did not intend to defraud the revenue.

United States involved the seizure of 85 barrels of sugar, which Joseph Barlow was attempting to export under the false denomination of refined sugar. Supreme Court has addressed the issue of ignorance of the law. “There is also a doctrine called the rule of lenity, which provides that courts should interpret ambiguous criminal laws in favor of the defendant.” U.S. “This idea reflects the legal principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law),” Basciano says. In other words, a law cannot be passed retroactively criminalizing an act. “If knowledge of the law were required, criminal and civil defendants alike would routinely plead ignorance of the law as a defense, which would undermine the concept and administration of justice.”īasciano also points out that in criminal law, a person cannot be charged for any conduct that was not prohibited at the time of the act. “Knowledge of all properly disseminated laws can be attributed to everyone,” she says. The government has a duty to appropriately disseminate new laws to the public and making them publicly accessible. But generally knowledge of the law is not required,” Basciano says.

“Is it reasonable to expect people to know every law on the books? No. Basciano, associate director of the International Law and Organizations Program at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, it is reasonable to assume that people are familiar with generally recognized wrongs, such as violence and dishonesty, as well as community standards based on their lived experience. Is it reasonable to assume that everyone knows every law?Īccording to Tiffany N. Today, there are literally tens of thousands of laws on the books, both federally and on a state level. If it were, the laws would lose their effect, because it can always be pretended.” Thomas Jefferson said, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse in any country.

Essentially, it means that if someone breaks the law, he or she is still liable even if they had no knowledge of the law being broken. The legal principle of ignorantia juris non excusat (ignorance of the law excuses not) or ignorantia legis neminem excusat (ignorance of law excuses no one) is derived from Roman law. If you are unaware you are breaking a law, should you be held accountable? In general, the law says yes.

Book no more excuses