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Comment by mistercow | Hacker News Reader

>1) Why didn't he dispose of the shotgun shells? Surely someone told him that as a convicted felon he wasn't supposed to possess firearms or ammunition?

I'm not sure that a "why not?" like that is a gap. I'm also not convinced that anyone would have told him that. You're generally just supposed to know the law. Nobody necessarily tells it to you.

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If you're exiting prison, someone does generally tell you of the terms of your release. I'd also imagine that sort of knowledge becomes common among prisoners and ex-convicts.

"You're generally just supposed to know the law. Nobody necessarily tells it to you."

If no one tells you, then how are you meant to know?

How?

That's been the practice since Roman times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignorantia_juris_non_excusat

That was a reasonable principle up to about a century ago, when statutory law started growing out of control and drowning out other more stable and sensible sources of law.

When legislatures churn out volumes and volumes of bills every single year, "ignorantia juris non excusat" non excusat.

On top of that, what ever happened to mens rea being a necessary element of culpability? Why are all of these malum prohibitum laws strict liability offences?

Kafka wrote something about that ;)

An excellent question. Basically, the law is absurd and horrible in almost every conceivable way, and designing a system of law that is otherwise is nontrivial.

Go read it in a book, or consult a lawyer and pose questions to him/her. Most cities and countries operate free law libraries where you can peruse these topics in as much detail as you care to. Like most things these days, it's incredibly easy to look it up online if you don't feel like going to a library.

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