Section 25-33

Sections 25–33 complete the general exceptions framework, addressing situations where harm results but criminal liability is excluded because of consent, good faith, or compulsion. Section 25 (consent) is foundational: an adult who voluntarily consents to a risk of harm cannot later hold the person who caused that harm criminally liable — if the act was done in good faith and was not intended to cause death or grievous hurt. A boxer who signs up for a professional fight consents to the punches he receives. A patient who consents to a surgical procedure with known risks consents to those outcomes. The consent exception does not apply where the consent was obtained by fraud or from someone incapable of consenting (a child or person of unsound mind). Section 26 extends protection to acts done in good faith for another's benefit — a doctor performing an emergency procedure on an unconscious patient who cannot consent acts in good faith for that patient's benefit and is protected. Section 29 covers communication — a doctor who explains to a patient that their diagnosis is terminal, causing the patient severe distress, is not criminally liable for causing mental harm because the communication was in good faith. Section 33 addresses duress/compulsion: a person who is threatened with instant death and commits an offence to avoid that threat (other than murder or offences against the state) has a complete defence. The threat must be of instant death — future or conditional threats do not qualify.