1B Unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter (complete) Flashcards
What are the 4 stages for an unlawful act manslaughter?
1) Unlawful act
2) The act must be dangerous
3 The act must have caused the death
4) Mens rea
1) Parts of an unlawful act
i) Death must be caused by an act not an omission (Lowe)
ii) The unlawful act must be a crime (Franklin)
Ratio of Lamb
D and his friend viewed the incident as a joe. There was unlawful act as Lamb didn’t intend or foresee the risk of hitting is friend (battery) or intend to frighten him (assault).
What cases are associated with the dangerous test?
Church, Dawson, Watson, JM & SM, Bristow
Ratio of Church
An act was dangerous if all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise the risk of some harm, albeit not serious harm. This is an objective test.
Ratios of Dawson and Watson
Dawson- the reasonable person could not have been aware of the attendant’s bad heart.
Watson- the unlawful act was dangerous because a reasonable person would have seen the old man’s frailty and old age.
Dawson doesn’t pass the dangerous test, Watson wins.
Ratio of JM & SM
The sober and reasonable person only had to foresee some harm, they didn’t have to foresee a specific type of harm.
Ratio of Bristow
CA stated that burglaries were not automatically dangerous.
What has to be proved for causation?
Factual causation, legal causation, Novus actus interveniens.
What is the test for factual causation?
‘But for’ test (White)
What is the test for legal causation?
Operating and substantial cause of death (Kimsey)
What are the cases for intervening acts?
Pagett
Williams and Roberts
Kennedy
Cheshire
Jordan
Ratio of Pagett
Act of a third party- it was reasonably foreseeable that the police would shoot, so D was liable.
Ratios of Roberts and Williams
The actions of the victim in Roberts were reasonably foreseeable because she didn’t do anything ‘daft or unexpected’
However, the victim’s actions in Williams were not reasonably foreseeable so V’s actions broke the chain of causation.
Ratio of Kennedy
Act of victim- V voluntarily injected the drug so broke the chain of causation to D by his own actions.
Ratio of Cheshire
Medical intervention will only break the chain of causation in extraordinary cases.
Ratio of Jordan
Medical treatment was palpably wrong so broke the chain of causation.
What is the thin skull rule?
‘Take your victim as you find them’ (Blaue)
What is the thin skull rule?
‘Take your victim as you find them’ (Blaue)
Ratio of Shohid
The unlawful and dangerous act need not be the sole cause of death, so long as it was not trivial.
How do you get the mens rea for unlawful act manslaughter?
The mens rea for the crime that constituted the unlawful act e.g. the unlawful act may be battery or assault.
What cases are used for the mens rea of unlawful act manslaughter?
Lamb
Andrews
Ratio of Lamb (mens rea)
D lacked the mens rea for either offence, and so did not have the mens rea of unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter either.
Ratio of Andrews
CA upheld conviction for an unlawful manslaughter conviction where he initial crime was strict liability and thus required no mens rea.
