Actus Reus Intro (Cases)

Question 1

Hill v Baxter (1958)

Answer 1

Case Law
Actus Reus– involuntary act
D was behind the wheel when his car collided with another; at his trial on a charge of dangerous driving, he claimed he had been overcome by an unknown illness and had been unconscious.

Principle – Some credible evidence must support a claim of sudden illness or concussion, they said, usually going beyond D’s mere assertion, but (Lord Goddard CJ dissenting) the burden of proof thereafter is on the prosecution to show that the act was a voluntary one. Lord Goddard, quoting Humphreys J in Kay v Butterworth 1945 resurrected the now famous and hypothetical ‘Swarm of Bees’.

Guilty