Stating on boards that you intend breaking the law

Fey!

I know that Legal isn't necessarily the right place for this, but what would be the legal situation if someone were to declare that they were going to break the law either on an open thread or by PM? Would Boards or the person they PM'd be ethicly bound to report it to the relevant authorities?

Example: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055108236
(I've put in the entire thread for context).

Apologies if this has been covered before.

Gobán Saor

You're asking about ethics on the Legal Discussion forum?????

johnnyskeleton

There is no crime until an illegal act is committed, conspired or attempted. Also, I don't see anything on that link that shows an intention to commit an offence.

seamus

Definitely something more for a legal eagle. Surely conspiring to commit a crime is an offence - otherwise the Gardai would have to wait for the crime to be committed before they could arrest someone (I don't mean that in the bad way that it sounds!)?

I think what he's referring to in that link is the guy's non-intention to declare it at customs. That's a tenuous one, but I can see what he's saying.

johnnyskeleton

It's not an offence not to declare something to customs if you are not obliged to do so. When he said that he does not intend to declare it to customs, he could be letting people know that he's a cheapskate who plans to buy a $50 ring. Probably not, but you don't know.

I think conspiracy needs some kind of agreement to commit the offence. If someone tells you that they are going to commit an offence and you say and do nothing, that does not mean you conspire to commit the offence.

dermot_sheehan

What he's referring to is misprisoning a crime, knowing that it is about to take place or that it is taking place and not reporting it to the authorities.

Misprisoning a felony (a serious criminal offence) used to be an offence at common law but this was abolished with the abolishment of the felony/misdemeanor distinction by the criminal law act 1997. Misprisoning treason is still an offence as per the Treason Act 1939.

So to answer the the poster's question, provided the offence in question isn't treason, a person does not commit an offence if he knows someone else is about to commit an offence and does nothing to warn the authorities.

Owen

Seen this before on another site. There's no way to prove or disprove something said online, the OP can simply say that he was winding other users up to annoy them.

Fey!

Thanks for the replies.

Due to the nature of my work, I see a LOT of instances where people import high value items without declaring them. I've also had several people on boards tell me in PMs that they intend doing the same.

Was curious about the implications. I also thought that stating that you were going to do something illegal on Boards was a serious Boards no-no!!!

Victor

gabhain7 wrote:

Misprisoning treason is still an offence as per the Treason Act 1939.

I'll limit the number of conspirators so.