''Rex v. Scofield'', Cald. 397 (1784), is a British

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

case that made

attempt An attempt to commit a crime occurs if a criminal has an intent to commit a crime and takes a substantial step toward completing the crime, but for reasons not intended by the criminal, the final resulting crime does not occur.''Criminal Law - ...

part of the common law, emphasizing the intent of an actor over the incomplete criminal act.''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; John Kaplan,

Robert Weisberg Robert I. Weisberg is an American lawyer. He is an Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and an expert on criminal law and criminal procedure, as well as a leading scholar in the law and literature movement. Weisberg wa ...

, Guyora Binder,

/ref> Scofield lit a candle and placed it into flammable material in a house with the intent to burn it down, but the larger fire never happened. Finding crime in the incomplete but intended act of arson, Lord Mansfield held that "completion of an act, criminal in itself, as notnecessary to constitute criminality", and "The intent may make an act, innocent in itself, criminal..."

References

{{reflist 1784 in British law English law articles needing infoboxes