1B - Murder Flashcards
What is the definition of murder?
the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the Queen’s Peace with malice aforethought express or implied
What is the actus reus of murder?
the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the Queen’s peace
What is the mens rea of murder?
malice aforethought
The act of murder has to be ‘unlawful’, what are the lawful acts?
self-defense and an executioner
What does ‘killing’ mean?
An act or omission (where there’s a duty to act)
What does a person in being mean?
- Foetus - AG Ref No.3 of 1994 - 1997
- what if they are being kept alive by life support - R v Malcherek and Steel
What doe under the Queen’s peace mean?
Peacetime so it’s not a time of war
Causation of murder
Murder is a result crime so the prosecution must prove that D’s act or omission caused the death of the V
Factual causation
But for test
Legal causation
- more than the minimal cause
- operating and substantial cause
- no intervening act
Breaking the chain of causation
- bad medical treatment
- V’s own actions were reasonable
- thin skull rule
What does malice aforethought mean?
intention to kill or cause GBH
- express - intention to kill
- implied - intention to cause GBH
- no requirement for malice or pre-planning
- can be guilty of murder even if they did not intend to kill
What is the foresight of consequences?
- the D may have intended another result (oblique intention)
Intention to kill or cause GBH isn’t necessary unless the jury feels that death or serious injury was ‘virtually certain’ as a result of the D’s actions and D realised this
Transferred malice
The mens rea can be transferred from the intended victim to the actual victim
What is the contemporaneity rule?
- general principle that actus reus and mens rea can occur at the same time
- Continuing act
- Series of acts
