I'm a university student in Canada, and I have to write an essay on the Scottish criminal trial for a 3rd year law history course. I'm just starting out and have plenty of time to research, but I don't know where to begin. Are there any recommendations you fellows could make on specific aspects worth discussing?

BTW, that's the exact outline I've been given; "Scottish Criminal Trials", so I can't be more specific.

Cheers mates!

Ahhh, my friend.... great place to start! Thank you.

Motive may be defined as the reason behind a given course of action. Motive is an explanation as to why a given party will form the intent to break law or commit crime. In criminal law, one will not get punished if it has been proven that they have the motive to commit a crime. But it increases the strength of the defence lawyer's argument by verifying that the accused had a motive to commit a crime. An example of motive is when a husband dies and leaving behind a million pounds worth of property where his next of kin was his wife. The prosecutor can argue that his wife had the motive even though he may not have evidence to prove the case.

Intent may be defined as acts that go before the actual crime and these acts then merge with the crime. Mohan (1975) defines intent as ‘decision to bring about despite the fact that the accused wanted the consequence of his actions or not'. Intent can occur at the same time as the act or it can occur suddenly before the crime. A good example of intent is possession of a pistol by an accused in the case that he/she is facing violence with robbery charges. Possession of this weapon shows that this person had the intent of committing robbery with violence.

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