What is transferred malice?

The definition of every crime — however varied its special elements — decomposes into the same two great constituents: actus reus (the guilty act: the conduct, circumstances and results the offence prohibits) and mens rea (the guilty mind: the mental element — intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence — with which it is done). The formula of liability: actus non facit reumnisi mens sit rea — the act does not make one guilty unless the mind is guilty. Neither alone suffices: an evil mind without a prohibited act (mere intention — Unit 5's first "stage") is not a crime; a prohibited act without a guilty mind is, at most, strict liability (exceptional). The Nepal's Muluki Criminal Code, 2074 builds its general part on exactly this architecture — grading homicide, for instance, by the actor's mental state (intentional murder; death caused with knowledge/ recklessness; death by negligence).The concurrence requirement (state it early): actus and mens must coincide — the mens must accompany the act (or the omission's duty-moment). Problems arise where they separate in time: the classic cases — the man who intends to kill, takes his sleeping wife's poison dose... then finds the poison and leaves it? (the Thabo Meli problem: a plan's stages splitting act from mens; the Fagan v. MPC problem: mens arising while an act continues) — solved…