misanimadversion, as where persons break open a door, in
order to execute a warrant, which will not justify such
proceeding: _Affectio enim tua nomen imponit operi tuo: item
crimen non contrahitur nisi nocendi, voluntas intercedat_,
which, as I understand, may read: For your violation puts
the name upon your act; and a crime is not committed unless
the will of the offender takes part in it. (1 Hawk. P. C.,
p. 99, Ch. 25, Sec. 3.)

This quotation by Hawkins is, I believe, from Bracton, which
carries the principle back to a very early period in the
existence of the common law. It is a principle, however, which
underlies all law, and must have been recognized at all times,
wherever criminal law has been administered, with even the
slightest reference to the principles of common morality and
justice. I quote again on this subject from Mr. Bishop:

The doctrine of the intent as it prevails in the criminal
law, is necessarily one of the foundation principles of
public justice. There is only one criterion by which the
guilt of man is to be tested. It is whether the mind is
criminal. Criminal law relates only to crime. And neither in
philosophical speculation, nor in religious or moral
sentiment, would any people in any age allow that a man
should be deemed guilty unless his mind was so. It is,
therefore, a principle of our legal system, as probably it
is of every other, that the essence of an offense is the
wrongful intent without which it can not exist. (1 Bishop's
Crim. Law, Sec. 287.)

Again, the same author, writing on the subject of knowledge, as
necessary to establish the intent, says:

It is absolutely necessary to constitute guilt, as in
indictments for uttering forged tokens, or other attempts to
defraud, or for receiving stolen goods, and offenses of a
similar description. (1 Crim. Prac. Sec. 504.)

In regard to the offense of obtaining property by false
pretenses, the author says:

The indictment must allege that the defendant knew the
pretenses to be false. This is necessary upon the general
principles of the law, in order to show an offense, even
though the statute does not contain th