13 Duress, Necessity And Consent

Question 1

Which situations is necessity limited time?

Answer 1

1. Where actions are taken for the benefit of another person when they are unable to consent - re F (1989)
2. Policemen can break highway rules out of necessity
3. As a very limited defence to murder - re A (2000)

Question 2

What are the 3 requirements from re A?

Answer 2

1. The act is needed to avoid inevitable and irreparable evil
2. No more shall be done than is reasonably necessary
3. The evil inflicted must not be disproportionate to thee io avoided

Question 3

What are 2 issues with re A?

Answer 3

1. It is an exceptionally limited category

2. It does not align with Dudley & Stephens (1884)

Question 4

Is duress a defence to murder?

Answer 4

1. No, instated in Howe (1987)

2. Upheld in Wilson (2007) where a 13 year old boy was controversially found guilty of murder

Question 5

What are the the elements of duress set out in Graham (1982)?

Answer 5

1. The defendant acted because he genuinely and reasonably believed in a threat of death or serious injury.
2. The reasonable person must have reacted in the same way as the defendant. Bowen (1996) extended this to being that 1) the defendant must take reasonable steps to escape 2) the threat was of imminent harm 3) the defendant believed the harm could be carried out

Question 6

What is consent a defence to, and what not?

Answer 6

• a defence to assault and battery

- not actual bodily harm or more serious injury - Brown (1994)

Question 7

What are the 7 categories in which consent is s defence to more serious harm?

Answer 7

1. Sporting activities
2. Dangerous exhibitions and bravado
3. Rough and undisciplined horseplay
4. Surgery
5. Tattooing and body piercing - seen in Wilson (1997)
6. Religious flagellation
7. Infection of an STI

Question 8

Can a fight be treated as a boxing match?

Answer 8

-no, AG’s ref 6/1980

Question 9

What are the 3 ways in which necessity can be used?

Answer 9

1. A defence of the lesser of 2 evils
2. Duress of circumstances - Martin (1988) or necessity of circumstances - Quayle (2005)
3. An overarching doctrine explaining self-defence, duress and the lesser of 2 evils approach - re A (2000)