Injurisprudence,animus nocendi (from Latin animus 'mind' and noceo 'to harm') is the subjectivestate of mind of the perpetrator of acrime, with reference to the exact knowledge of illegal content of his behaviour, and of its possible consequences.[1][2]
In most modern legal systems, theanimus nocendi is required as an essential condition to give a penal condemnation.
Theanimus nocendi is usually demonstrated by the verified presence of these elements:
When the author of the crime had noanimus nocendi, it is usually considered that the crime still exists, but the author is innocent, unless a responsibility forguilt can be found in his conduct: the typical case of a car accident in which a wrong or even hazardous manoeuvre causes personal injuries to another car driver, is then managed as a crime for the presence of injuries, yet the author will not be prosecuted as the author of the injuries (he did not want to hurt the other driver, thus he had noanimus nocendi), but simply as the author of a dangerous conduct that indirectly caused said effects, and would be held responsible at a guilt title.
Theanimus nocendi is often absent in people withmental illness, and in front of such people, a psychiatric expertise is usually required to verify the eventualanimus. Minors too are in many systems considered little capable of a correct knowledge about the meaning or the consequences of their actions, and this is the reason for the common reduction of the passive capability of punishment they usually can receive.
A particular case ofanimus nocendi is thevoluntas necandi (from Latin voluntas 'will' and neco 'to kill'), describing theanimus nocendi of a person who willfully kills another human being. Establishment ofvoluntas necandi is necessary to provemurder orvoluntary manslaughter as opposed toinvoluntary manslaughter.