Online Encyclopedia

IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from igno...

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 295 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IGNORANCE (
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Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia
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juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")
  . With this is sojnetimes coupled another maxim: ignorantia facti excusat (" ignorance of the fact excuses ") . That every one who has capacity to understand the law is presumed to know it is a very necessary principle, for otherwise the courts would be continually occupied in endeavouring to solve problems which by their very impracticability would render the administration of justice next to impossible . It would be necessary for the court to engage in endless inquiries as to the true inwardness of a man's mind, whether his state of ignorance existed at the time of the commission of the offence, whether such a condition of mind was inevitable or brought about merely by indifference on his
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part . Therefore, in
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English, as in
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Roman law, ignorance of the law is no ground for avoiding the consequences of an act . So far as regards criminal offences, the maxim as to ignorantia
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juris admits of no exception, even in the case of a foreigner temporarily in England, who is likely to be ignorant of English law . In Roman law the harshness of the
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rule was mitigated in the case of
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women, soldiers and persons under the age of twenty-five, unless they had good legal advice within reach (Dig. xxii . 6 . 9) . Ignorance of a
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matter of fact may in general be alleged in avoidance of the consequences of acts and agreements, but such ignorance cannot be pleaded where it is the duty of a person to know, or where, having the means of know-ledge at his disposal, he wilfully or negligently fails to avail himself of it (see CONTRACT) . In logic, ignorance is that state of mind which for want of evidence is equally unable to affirm or deny one thing or another . Doubt, on the other hand, can neither affirm nor deny because the evidence seems equally strong for both .

For Ignoratio Elenchi (ignorance of the refutation) see

FALLACY .

End of Article: IGNORANCE (Lat. ignorantia, from ignorare, not to know); want of knowledge, a state of mind which in law has important consequences. A well-known legal maxim runs: ignorantia juris non excusat ("ignorance of the law does not excuse")
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