Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

constructive intent

A legal principle that actual intent will be presumed when an act leading to the result could have been reasonably expected to cause that result. "Constructive intent is a fiction which permits lip service to the notion that intention is essential to criminality, while recognizing that unintended consequences of an act may sometimes be sufficient for guilt of some offenses." Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 835 (3d ed. 1982).