1B - Murder Flashcards
What is the definition of murder?
lord Coke - ‘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,
Express - Intention to kill
or
implied - Intention to cause GBH
Can be guilty even if no intention to kill - R v Vickers, Cunningham
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)
Omission - R v Gibbons and Proctor
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 does 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. R v White, R v Pagett
Legal causation
- More than the minimal cause - R v Kimsey
- Operating and substantial cause - R v Smith
- No intervening act
- Consider the think skull rule - R v Blaue
Breaking the chain of causation
Chain of causation must not be broken
Can be broken by:
-Act of a third party, R v Jordan
-Victims own act, R v Roberts
-natural but inpredivatble event
Transferred malice
The mens rea can be transferred from the intended victim to the actual victim. R v Mitchell
What is the contemporaneity rule?
- general principle that actus reus and mens rea must occur at the same time.
- Continuing act - R v Fagan
- Series of acts - R v Thabo Meli
