Actus reus Flashcards
What are the 3 ways Actus Reus can be satisfied?
- A voluntary act.
- State of affairs/absolute liability case (just being involved in act not necessarily doing it)
- Omission to act (e.g. a duty to act)
Case for a voluntary act?
Hill v Baxter (1958)
What was the principle from Hill v Baxter (1958)?
Court gave examples where D could be said to not be acting voluntarily:
If a driver lost control
of the vehicle when he was attacked by a swarm of bees or if he lost control due to a heart attack.
Case for state of affairs/absolute liability?
R v Larsonneur (1933)
What happened in R v Larsonneur (1933)
D was asked to leave the UK. She did so and went to Ireland. Irish police deported her back to the UK. She did not do this voluntarily. When she arrived back in the UK she was immediately arrested for being an ‘alien’. It was irrelevant that she was brought back to the UK involuntarily. She was found to be absolutely liable.
What are the 2 ways an omission can be the actus reus?
- An Act of Parliament (e.g. S170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988).
- A duty to act.
What are the 5 scenarios there is a duty to act?
COVER!
- Contractual duty.
- Official position duty.
- Voluntary duty.
- Event starting duty.
- Relationship duty.
Example of a contractual duty?
R v Pittwood (1902)
D failed to shut railway crossing gates and a person was killed.
Example of an official position duty?
R v Dytham (1979)
a policeman witnessed a violent attack but took no action and drove off – neglecting to perform his duty.
Example of a duty taken voluntarily?
R v Stone and Dobinson (1977)
failed to care for elderly sister who had become helpless and died. Charged with manslaughter.
Example of a duty due to starting a chain of events?
R v Miller (1983)
a squatter fell asleep smoking a cigarette. A fire broke out. He just moved to another room. He was convicted of criminal damage because he took no positive action - e.g. phone the fire service.
Example of a duty due to a relationship?
R v Gibbons and Proctor (1918)
neglected child of Gibbons.
What is causation?
This is where in order to secure a conviction the prosecutor must prove that the defendant caused the result
What are the 2 types of causation?
Factual and legal causation.
How do you prove factual causation?
To prove a factual causation the but for test is used, but for the defendants actions would the consequences have occurred?
What is an example of a case to show factual causation in action?
R v White (1910).
What happened in R v White (1910)?
D put cyanide into his mother’s drink, but she died of heart failure before the poison could kill her. The answer to the question ‘But for what the defendant did would she have died?’ is ‘YES’. She would have died anyway so D was not guilty of murder as the prosecution failed to establish factual causation.
How do you prove legal causation?
To prove a legal causation, must show D’s was an ‘operative and substantial’ cause of the consequence and there was no intervening act (novus actus interveniens) as this breaks the chain of causation.
What does substantial mean?
Substantial more than something that the law considers very trivial. This is known as the ‘de minimus’ rule.
What does operative mean?
Operative is taken to mean significant or most important.
What case established that medical treatment can be an intervening act and break the chain of causation?
R v Jordan (1956).
What is the thin skull rule?
D must take victims as they find them so that if the victim is suffering from an unknown weakness the defendant cannot blame that weakness for their actions.
What case shows this?
R v Blaue (1975)
A Jehovah’s Witness refused a blood transfusion and died. D was still held responsible for her death.
What was held in R v Roberts (1971)?
If D causes the victim to react in a foreseeable way they will be guilty of any injuries caused.
Girl jumped from a car because of sexual advances. D was responsible for the injuries.
What was held in R v Willams (1992)?
If a victim’s reaction is unreasonable then it may break the chain of causation.
Victim jumped from a car to escape a person who was allegedly stealing his wallet. The victim died.
The victims actions were seen to be unreasonable so it broke the chain of causation.
