Legal Impossibility Means

Impossibility as a defense against criminal attempt has been widely rejected by modern American laws and courts. The Model Penal Code, which many States have adopted since its introduction in 1962, expressly rejects impossibility as a defence to the charge of attempted punishment (§ 5.01 [1995]). Modern American law uses the term impracticability interchangeably with the term impossibility, mainly because some things may not be absolutely impossible to do, but are still impracticable. Therefore, the general rule is that a thing cannot be done if it is not practical to perform it. A contractual obligation is impracticable «if it can only be performed at an excessive and unreasonable cost» (Transatlantic Financing Corp. v. USA, 363 F.2d 312 [D.C. Cir. 1966]). If you have been charged with a crime, you need a strong defense. There are many arguments you can use to prove your innocence, and impossibility is one of them. In Georgia, there are two types of avoidance defenses: factual or legal.

Your lawyer can help you gather evidence to support this argument. Lawson and Berry have decades of experience in criminal defense and are intimately familiar with the impossible defense. Contact our offices for more information and a free case assessment. The fact that the offence charged against the accused was impossible in fact or in law in the circumstances if such an offence could have been committed if the circumstances had been such as the accused believed them is not a defence to a charge of attempted criminality. A legal excuse or defense to breach of contract; Less common is a defense against a criminal complaint for an attempted crime, such as attempted robbery or murder. As contract law developed over the course of the twentieth century – and in response to increased commercial activity – courts began to recognize impossibility as a valid defense to a breach of contract claim. This remedy did not normally apply if one of the parties found it surprisingly difficult or costly to perform in accordance with the contract; On the contrary, it applied only if the basis or object of the contract was destroyed or no longer existed. Moreover, the exception of impossibility became possible only if there was an objective impossibility. An objective impossibility has arisen if the contractual obligation could not actually be fulfilled. Objective impossibility is often called «the thing cannot be done».

For example, if a musician promises to play a concert in a particular concert hall, but the concert hall then burns down, it would be impossible to perform in accordance with the contractual agreement and the musician would be exempt from performing in that particular venue. It is subjective impossibility if only one of the contracting parties subjectively believes that it will not be able to provide the requested service. For example, if a musician believes that he has not practiced enough to give a successful concert, this belief would not exempt the musician from giving the concert. The statement «I can`t do it» often refers to the state of mind in a case of subjective impossibility. Although it is generally accepted that mere legal impossibility precludes an attempted conviction, the notion of hybrid legal impossibility has proved problematic. However, it is legally impossible if the acts envisaged, even if they were carried out, would not constitute a criminal offence. [United States v. King, 2006 U.S. Dist.

LEXIS 57013 (W.D. Mich. August 14, 2006)]. A crime is considered factually impossible if the facts made the intended crime impossible, even though the accused did not know of it at trial. Georgia, however, does not accept any de facto impossibility as a defence and will instead charge the accused with attempted intentional crime. Legal impossibility refers to an impossibility resulting from the fact that what the defendant intended is not illegal. Legal impossibility is considered a defense against the crime of attempt. The category of legal impossibility is divided into two subcategories: when a party raises the objection of impracticability, courts generally determine three things: first, whether something unexpected happened after the parties entered into the contract; second, whether the parties had assumed that this would not happen; and third, that the unforeseen event made performance of the contract impossible. Some widely recognized events that would normally constitute a defence of practical impossibility are the death or illness of one of the necessary parties, the unforeseeable destruction of the object of the contract (perhaps by a «superior act»), or compelling illegality. Impossibility was used as a defense against attempted crime charges. In the past, courts recognized that a party could not be convicted of criminal attempt if the actual crime was legally impossible. For example, if a person has been charged with attempting to obtain stolen property, but the property has not been stolen, the defence of legal impossibility may arise.

Legal impossibility is distinguished from de facto impossibility when facts unknown to the person attempting to commit an offence make the offence de facto impossible. For example, if a pickpocket tries to steal a wallet but there is no wallet, there may be a de facto impossibility. Courts have generally recognized legal impossibility as a defence to criminal attempt, but not factual impossibility. They argued that, since a person attempting to commit an offence had formed the necessary intention to commit the offence, it was irrelevant that the offence was de facto impossible to perform.