Fraud is one general offence that can be committed in three ways. This lesson focuses on the second: committing fraud not by lying, but by staying silent when the law requires you to speak. For a solicitor advising clients, drafting contracts, or acting in fiduciary roles, knowing when silence crosses into criminal liability is essential — the line turns on whether a legal duty to disclose exists, and on the state of mind behind the silence.
The offence is complete the moment a person dishonestly fails to disclose what they were bound to reveal, intending to gain or cause loss. No one need actually be deceived or suffer harm.
What this lesson covers:
- Overview and the Offence — where this offence sits among the three ways fraud can be committed, and the core definition under section 3.
- Actus Reus: The Legal Duty to Disclose — the failure to disclose and the sources from which a legal duty to speak can arise.
- Mens Rea — the two mental elements: dishonesty (using the two-stage test) and the intent to gain or cause loss.
- Gain and Loss — how money or property, temporary or permanent, and risk of loss are defined.
- Completion, Trial and Sentencing — the precise moment the offence is complete, and how it is tried and punished.