Chapter 2 codifies the general principles of criminal responsibility in Commonwealth law. The statement of general principles is exhaustive; the principles apply to all Commonwealth offences, whether or not they are included in the Criminal Code.
Many of the principles are presumptive in character. So, for example, provision is made to permit legislative reversal of the presumption of innocence: 13.4 Legal burden of proof – defence. And though the Code presumes that criminal liability requires proof of recklessness at least, provision is made for the imposition of liability for negligence, strict and absolute liability: 5.6 Offences that do not specify fault elements and Division 6 – Cases where fault elements are not required. The provisions of the Code are not constitutionally entrenched and any of them can be overridden by Parliament in legislation which departs specifically from the structure of criminal responsibility set out in Chapter 2. Since the object of the Code is to provide a clear and unambiguous statement of fundamental principles of criminal responsibility it is anticipated that instances where Chapter 2 is overridden will be rare and the intention of the legislature to override its provisions, in those rare instances, will be explicit and unmistakeable
Corporate criminal responsibility provides the best known instances of Parliamentary departure from the principles of the Code in formulating offences. Though Part 2.5 – Corporate Criminal Responsibility governs corporate criminal responsibility in some offences, it has been displaced in others by alternative provisions.
