Chapter 13- Actus Reus Flashcards
What is actus reus?
-It is the physical element of a crime, It can be;
an act or
a failure to act (omission) or
a ‘state of affairs’
What are conduct crimes and an example?
- The actus reus is the prohibited conduct itself
- EG, the actus reus of the offence of drink driving is a criminal offence under s 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1988
- Driving with excess alcohol in your bloodstream is the offence
- No consequence is required
What are consequence crimes and an example?
- The actus reus must also result in a consequence
- This means that the actus reus is only committed where, as well as the defendant doing something, there is also a prohibited consequence
- EG, in the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, there must be an application or threat of unlawful force but there must also be a consequence of ‘actual bodily harm’= injury to the victim
- However, it’s not enough that there is a consequence eg Marchant and Muntz
What are state of affairs crimes, including an example?
- The defendant is responsible
- EG, having an offensive weapon in public (Prevention of Crime Act 1953), where the D doesn’t have to do anything with the weapon or have it visible for it to be an offence
- Sometimes they can be convicted even though they aren’t acting voluntarily, considered as offences for which there is absolute liability eg R v Lasonneur
What is the voluntary nature of actus reus, including an example?
- |f the defendant has no control over their actions, then they haven’t committed the actus reus
- In Hill v Baxter the court gave examples of where a driver couldn’t be said to be doing the act of driving voluntarily eg being stung by bees or having a heart attack
- Case example- R v Mitchell
What is ‘Involuntariness’?
- The opposite of voluntarily
- Occurring in state of affair crimes and the unusual case of R v Larsonneur
- The idea is also present when considering the lack of mens rea
What is an omissions for actus reus?
-An omission can’t make a person guilty of an offence
What is a ‘Good Samaritan’ law?
- Some other countries have one
- It makes a person responsible for helping others in an emergency, even if its a complete stranger
What are the exceptions to the rule where an omission can make a person guilty?
There are 6 ways in which a duty can exist:
- statutory duty
- contractual duty
- duty due to a relationship
- duty which has been taken on voluntarily
- duty through ones official position
- duty which arises because the defendant has set in motion a chain of events
What is a statutory duty exception to the rule and example?
- An Act of Parliament can create liability for an omission
- Example= failing to stop/report a road traffic accident under the Road Traffic Act 1988
What is a contractual duty exception to the rule and example?
- R v Pittwood
- The failure of someone to do their duty could make them guilty of an offence if someone is hurt/killed as a result eg a railway crossing keeper forgetting to close a gate causing someone to be struck by a train and die
What is a duty because of a relationship exception to the rule, including an example?
- usually a parent child relationship, as they have a duty to care for their young children
- a duty can also exist the other way round for elderly parents and grown up children
- R v Gibbins and Proctor
What is a duty which has been undertaken voluntarily exception to the rule, including an example?
- Somebody voluntarily took a duty eg a partner voluntarily undertaken the duty to look after their partners children
- R v Gibbins and Proctor
What is a duty though one’s official position exception to the rule, including an example?
- An official position could be a police officer, teacher, fireman etc
- The official fails to do what is expected of their job position
- R v Dytham
What is a duty which arises because the defendant set in motion a chain of events exception to the rule, including an example?
-The idea of owing a duty and being liable though omission was created in R v Miller, where a squatter had accidental started a fire
What is the duty of doctors exception to the rule, including an example?
- Doctors may decide to stop treating a patient
- If the stopping of treatment is in the patients best interests then its not an omission which can form the actus reus
- This was decided in Airedale NHS Trust v Bland
What is causation?
- Where a consequence must be proved, then the prosecution has to show that:
- the defendants conduct was the factual cause of the consequence
- it was the legal cause of that consequence and
- there was no intervening act which broke the chain of causation
What is factual cause/ ‘but-for’ test and an example?
- D could only be found guilty if the consequence would not have happened ‘but-for’ the defendants conduct
- the ‘but-for’ test can be shown in R v Pagett
- D was guilty as the girl wouldn’t have died ‘but-for’ his actions
What is legal cause and an example?
- There maybe more than 1 act contributing to the consequence
- Some acts maybe made by people other than the D
- The D can be guilty if their conduct was more than a ‘minimal’ cause of the consequence
- But the defendants conduct needs to be a substantial cause
- Seen in R v Kimsey
What are multiple causes and an example?
- There maybe more than 1 person whose act contributed to the death
- the D can be guilty even if their conduct wasn’t the only cause of the death
- In Kimsey both drivers were driving at high speed but the D could be found guilty
What is the thin-skull rule and an example?
- The D must take the victim as they find them
- Meaning if they have something unusual about their physical or mental state which makes the injury worse, then the defendant is liable for the more serious injury
- R v Blaue (Jehovah’s Witness)
What are intervening acts?
- Must be a direct link from the D’s conduct to the consequence- known as the chain of causation
- Sometimes something else happens after the D’s act or omission and if this is sufficiently separate from the D’s conduct, it may break the chain
- eg stabbing someone in the arm, on the way to hospital in an ambulance they are involved in a car and suffer head injuries
what is the medical treatment causation and an example?
- Unlikely to break the chain of causation unless its so independent of the D’s acts and ‘in itself so potent in causing death’ that their actions are insignificant
- Shown in R v Smith, where the D was still held guilty providing that injury was still an ‘operating’ and ‘substantial’ cause of death
what is the life-support machines causation and an example?
- Switching off a life-support machine by a doctor when the patient is brain dead does not break the chain of causation
- This was decided in R v Malcherek
What is the victims own act causation and an example?
- If the defendant causes the victim to react in a foreseeable way, then any injury to the victim will be considered to have been caused by the D
- This occured in R v Roberts
What is the unreasonable reaction causation and an example?
- If the victims reaction is unreasonable, then the chain of causation may break
- In R v Williams a hitch hiker jumped from W’s car and died from head injuries
- This makes it necessary to consider the surrounding circumstances in deciding whether the victims own conduct had broken the chain
