對於刑事責任的普通法測定範式可以用以下拉丁語短句概述： actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea,[6] 即意為「除非在意識心理上有罪，否則該行為不應受罪罰」[7][8]。基於一般法則，沒有意識過錯的行為人士，在刑法上是不承擔責任[9][10]。而例外情況則被稱之為「嚴格責任犯罪」（strict liability crimes）[11][12][13]。 另外，當一個人蓄意造成傷害，但由於不當目的或其他因素，引致該意圖由原意圖針對的受害人，轉向非原意圖針對的受害人，如此產生的結果就會被認定為一個 「蓄意轉移」（transferred intent）的司法問題[14]:63–64[15]。
在一些司法轄區裡，mens rea 和 actus reus 這個指稱會被其他替代術語所取代使用[16]:95[17]:84。
^"By the time of Coke, the maxim 'actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea' (an act does not make one guilty unless his mind is guilty) had become well ingrained in the common law, and it remains a central precept of Anglo-American criminal law today." Martin R. Gardner, The Mens Rea Enigma: Observations on the Role of Motive in the Criminal Law Past and Present, 1993 Utah L. Rev. 635, 636 (1993)
^". . . a person is not guilty of an offense unless he acted purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently, as the law may require, with respect to each material element of the offense." Model Penal Code § 2.02(1)
^"A crime ordinarily is not committed if the mind of the person doing the act is innocent." 21 Am. Jur. 2d Criminal Law § 112
^"Under the common-law doctrine of 'transferred intent,' if an accused attempts to injure one person and an unintended victim is injured because of the act, the accused's intent to injure the intended victim is transferred to the injury of the unintended victim, even though the wounding was accidental or unintentional." 21 Am. Jur. 2d Criminal Law § 115
^Child, J., & Ormerod, D., Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod's Essentials of Criminal Law, 2nd ed., (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), p. 95.
^Child, J., & Ormerod, D., Smith, Hogan, and Ormerod's Essentials of Criminal Law,, 3rd ed., 2019, p. 84.
^§ 5.1(a) Common law and statutory crimes, 1 Subst. Crim. L. § 5.1(a) (3d ed.)
