California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Simon, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 278, 886 P.2d 1271, 9 Cal.4th 493 (Cal. 1995):
In Lambert v. California (1957) 355 U.S. 225, 78 S.Ct. 240, 2 L.Ed.2d 228, by contrast, the court set aside a conviction for failure of a person convicted of a felony to register under a municipal ordinance. The court held that a conviction of a person who had no knowledge of the requirement violated due
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More recently the court affirmed the conviction of a corporate president who failed to maintain the integrity of food products distributed by the corporation. (United States v. Park (1975) 421 U.S. 658, 95 S.Ct. 1903, 44 L.Ed.2d 489.) It did so, however, on the basis that a federal statute imposed a supervisory duty on the defendant to implement measures to avoid contamination of foodstuffs. In Park, therefore, the offense involved public health and safety and, while the statute may not have included a mens rea element, criminal negligence was a prerequisite to conviction.
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