In the

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

of many nations, necessity may be either a possible justification or an exculpation for breaking the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

Defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

s seeking to rely on this

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

argue that they should not be held

liable In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agencie ...

for their actions as a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

because their conduct was ''necessary'' to prevent some greater harm and when that conduct is not excused under some other more specific provision of law such as

self defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in tim ...

. As a matter of political expediency, states usually allow some classes of person to be excused from liability when they are engaged in socially useful functions but intentionally cause injury, loss or damage. For example, drunk drivers might contend that they drove their car to get away from being kidnapped (cf. ''

North by Northwest ''North by Northwest'' is a 1959 American spy thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason. The original screenplay written by Ernest Lehman was intended to be the basis for ...

''). Most

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

and civil law

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...

s recognize this defense, but only under limited circumstances. Generally, the defendant must affirmatively show (i.e., introduce some evidence) that (a) the harm they sought to avoid outweighs the danger of the prohibited conduct they are charged with; (b) they had no reasonable alternative; (c) they ceased to engage in the prohibited conduct as soon as the danger passed; and (d) they themselves did not create the danger they sought to avoid. Thus, with the "drunk driver" example cited above, the necessity defense will not be recognized if the defendant drove further than was reasonably necessary to get away from the kidnapper, or if some other reasonable alternative was available to them. For another example, the

fire service A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organi ...

s and other

civil defence Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

organization An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...

s have a general duty to keep the

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

safe from harm. If a fire or flood is threatening to spread out of control, it may be reasonably necessary to destroy other property to form a

fire break A firebreak or double track (also called a fire line, fuel break, fireroad and firetrail in Australia) is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebre ...

, or to trespass on land to throw up mounds of earth to prevent the water from spreading. These examples have the common feature of individuals intentionally breaking the law because they believe it to be urgently necessary to protect others from harm, but some states distinguish between a response to a crisis arising from an entirely natural cause (an inanimate force of nature), e.g. a fire from a lightning strike or rain from a storm, and a response to an entirely human crisis. Thus,

parent A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are First-degree relative, first-degree relatives and have ...

s who lack the financial means to feed their

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

ren cannot use necessity as a defense if they steal food. The existence of welfare benefits and strategies other than self-help defeat the claim of an urgent necessity that cannot be avoided in any way other than by breaking the law. Further, some states apply a test of proportionality, where the defense would only be allowed where the degree of harm actually caused was a reasonably proportionate response to the degree of harm threatened. This is a legal form of

cost–benefit analysis Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits ...

Specific jurisdictions

Canada

In Canada, necessity is recognized as a defence for crimes committed in urgent situations of clear and imminent peril in which the accused has no safe or legal way out of the situation. Three requirements for defence of necessity: # Urgent situation of imminent peril or danger # No reasonable legal alternative # Proportionality between harm inflicted and harm avoided The first and second element are evaluated on the modified objective standard. The third element is evaluated on a purely objective standard:

R v Latimer ''R v Latimer'', 0011 SCR 3 was a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in the controversial case of Robert Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer convicted of murdering his disabled daughter, Tracy Latimer. The case sparked an intense national debat ...

, 2001 SCC 1.

Denmark and Norway

Emergency law/right (''nødret'', ''nødrett'') is the equivalent of necessity in Denmark and Norway. It is considered related to but separate from self-defence. Common legal examples of necessity includes: breaking windows and other objects in order to escape a fire, commandeering a vehicle to serve as an emergency ambulance, ignoring traffic rules while rushing a dying patient to a hospital, and even killing a person who poses an immediate threat to several other people not including yourself. In the last case self-defense laws are not enough, but the case is covered by ''nødret''. ''Nødret'' can only be invoked though when no other option is available.

English law

Except for a few statutory exemptions and in some medical cases there is no corresponding defense in

English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...

for murder.

Singapore

Necessity is a defence per the Penal Code. This requires lack of criminal intent, good faith (due care and attention), and the goal of preventing harm. The harm must be sufficiently serious and imminent to justify or excuse the act.

Switzerland

In two separate cases in 2020, climate activists were not convicted of trespassing and damaging property after holding unauthorized demonstrations in Crédit Suisse branches due to pleading a necessity defense in the face of a climate emergency.

Taiwan

Necessity is a possible defense per the Criminal Code and the Administrative Penalty Act.

United States

Necessity as a defense to criminal acts conducted to meet political ends was rejected in the case of ''

United States v. Schoon ''United States v. Schoon,'' 939 F.2d 826 (1991), was a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court's decision centered upon the legal defense of necessity as it relates to acts of civil disobedience and f ...

''. In that case, 30 people, including appellants, gained admittance to the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

office in Tucson, where they chanted "keep America's tax dollars out of El Salvador", splashed simulated blood on the counters, walls, and carpeting, and generally obstructed the office's operation. The court ruled that the elements of necessity did not exist in this case.

In specific states

Several states have established legal positions on the necessity defense, including

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. The

Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as t ...

has ruled that the necessity defense may not be used when the harm the defendant claims to be avoiding through his actions was legal, while the action undertaken to prevent it was illegal.Anti-abortion activist can't use 'necessity defense' in slaying
This question became an issue in the 2010 trial of

Scott Roeder On May 31, 2009, George Tiller, an American physician from Wichita, Kansas, who was one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late terminations of pregnancy, was murdered by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist. Tiller was sh ...

for the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of notorious

late-term abortion Late termination of pregnancy, also referred to politically as third trimester abortion, describes the termination of pregnancy by inducing labor during a late stage of gestation. In this context, ''late'' is not precisely defined, and different ...

provider

George Tiller George Richard Tiller (August 8, 1941 – May 31, 2009) was an American physician and abortion provider from Wichita, Kansas. He gained national attention as the medical director of Women's Health Care Services, which, at the time, was one of o ...

.Jacob Appel: Allowing a manslaughter defence brings risk of anarchy
''The Independent'', Jan. 13, 2010. Judge Warren Wilbert refused to allow the defense to present a plea of necessity, but did allow them to present a case for

voluntary manslaughter Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human in which the offender acted in the heat of passion, a state that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point that they cannot reasonably control thei ...

on the grounds that the defendant sincerely believed that he was committing a smaller crime to prevent a greater evil. The

Winooski 44 The Winooski 44 were a group of Vermont citizens in the United States who were given permission by the Senator's staff to occupy a hallway outside Senator Robert Stafford's office in March 1984. The group of citizens had attempted, for months, to ...

case in

resulted in activists being acquitted of charges after using a necessity defense.

In religious law

Judaism

In Judaism, the principle of ''

pikuach nefesh ''Pikuach nefesh'' (), which means "saving a soul" or "saving a life," is the principle in ''Halakha'' (Jewish law) that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious rule of Judaism. In the event that a person is in critic ...

'' allows any law to be broken to save a life, except laws against murder, adultery/incest and blasphemy/idolatry.

Catholicism

References

*Christie, ''The Defense of Necessity Considered from the Legal and Moral Points of View'', (1999) Vol. 48 Duke Law Journal, 975. *Fuller, Lon L. ''The Case of the Speluncean Explorers'', (1949) Vol. 62, No. 4 Harvard Law Revie
The Case of the Speluncean Explorers
and ''The Case of the Speluncean Explorers: A Fiftieth Anniversary Symposium'', (1999) 12 Harvard Law Review 1834. *Herman, ''United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Cooperative. Whatever Happened to Federalism?'' (2002) Vol. 95, No. 1 The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 121. *Travis, M. ''The Compulsion Element in a Defence of Necessity'' (2000

{{Authority control Criminal defenses Legal doctrines and principles