Deceit The Lie of the Law
5
FRAUDULENT KNOWLEDGE AND FRAUDULENT INTENTION
INTRODUCTION
5.1 In Medd v. Cox,1 Sir Wilfrid Greene, MR said that “A charge of fraud implies that the person against whom it is made is a dishonest liar”. This dishonesty, the quintessence of a deceit, lies in the dual requirements of fraudulent knowledge and a fraudulent intention. Bowen, LJ said, in Angus v. Clifford,2 that:“there is no such thing as an absolute criterion which gives you a certain index to a man’s mind. There is nothing outside his mind which is an absolute indication of what is going on inside … you must look into it, if you are going to find fraud against him; and unless you think you see what must have been in his mind, you cannot find him guilty of fraud.”