1B Elements Flashcards
Define AR
A wrongful act, omission or a state of affairs matter
Ratio of Hill v Baxter
D was convicted as there was no evidence to support that he was driving involuntarily. Examples of driving involuntarily include losing control of the vehicle when being stung by a swarm of bees, being struck on the head by a stone or having a heart attack.
What is a conduct crime?
Where the AR is the prohibited action e.g. drink driving (section 5a) Road Traffic Act 1988.
What is a consequence crime?
Where the crime is dependent on the result e.g. a consequence of stabbing someone could be their death.
What is a state of affairs crime?
Where the offence doesn’t require an AR
Example of a state of affairs crime
R v Larsonneur- despite her actions being involuntary, she met the AR requirements
The 6 omissions
Creating a dangerous situation and failing to rectify it (Miller).
A parental duty to act (Gibbons and Proctor).
An employment/contractual duty (Pittwood).
The duty of carers (Stone and Dobinson).
Duty through an official position (Dytham)
An Act of Parliament requiring attention (s1 Children and Young Persons Act 1933-wilful neglect of a child).
Test for factual causation
‘But for’ test decides whether the defendant’s actions caused the consequence
Case for factual causation
White- ‘But for’ the defendant’s action (putting cyanide in his mother’s tea), she still would have die from a heart attack so D wasn’t liable.
The tests for legal causation
The original injury was an operating and substantial cause of death or injury, the intervening act was reasonably foreseeable, and the ‘thin skull’ test.
The original injury was an operating and substantial cause of death or injury
Kimsey- the cause must be ‘more than a slight or trifling link’ (confirmed by Hughes).
Intervening acts (novus actus interveniens)
Act of third party, medical treatment, act of victim
Intervening acts- act of third party
Pagett-it was reasonably foreseeable that the police would shoot so D was liable
Intervening acts- medical treatment
Medical treatment can break the chain of causation in extraordinary cases (Cheshire) however there is medical negligence where the treatment is palpably wrong (Jordan).
Intervening acts- act of the victim
Roberts- victim’s actions were reasonably foreseeable as the driver was attempting to sexually assault her.
Williams- victim’s actions were not reasonably foreseeable because the driver only tried to steal their wallet.
Kennedy- victim voluntarily injected the rug so broke the chain of causation
What is the ‘thin-skull’ rule?
Take your victim as you find them (Blaue- the stab wound was still the operating and substantial cause of death).
Define direct intention
The defendant’s main aim or purpose (Mohan).
Define oblique intention
The consequence is a virtually certain result of the act and the defendant knows this (Woollin).
Matthews v Alleyne ratio
If death or GBH is a virtual certainty then finding intention is irresistible, the foresight of a virtual certainty= intention
Define recklessness
Taking an unjustified risk (Cunningham-the accused foresaw the risk but did it anyway)
Define the coincidence rule
The AR and MR must occur at the same time.
Coincidence rule- a continuing act
Fagan v Met Police Commissioner- Driving onto the police officer’s foot and staying there was one single continuous act, as long as the defendant had the mens rea at some point during that continuous act, he was guilty.
Coincidence rule- a series of events
Thabo Meli-MR formed for the first act continued over a series of acts and a consequence some days later.
Church- the MR occurred during the series of events so D is guilty.
Transferred malice
The mens rea from an intended crime to the actual crime can be transferred, the crimes must be the same (Pembliton).
Mitchell- the MR could be transferred from the intended victim to the actual victim because the intended and actual crimes were the same.
Define strict liability
Where the crime requires no proof of MR, just having the AR is enough.
Presumption of MR
The courts presume that an MR is required unless Parliament clarifies that none is required (Sweet v Parsley where the crime did require proof of MR.
Why were strict liability offences introduced?
To deal with regulatory and not ‘truly criminal’ cases e.g. issues of public safety (Blake)
Examples of strict liability offences (cases)
Gammon v AG of Hong Kong, Callow v Tillstone, Howells, Alphacell v Woodward
Examples of strict liability offences
Speeding, selling alcohol to minors, parking on double yellow lines
