Core principles - AR Flashcards
What is Actus Reus?
The actions of a defendant that are prohibited by law
Actus Reus must be voluntary, meaning the defendant’s muscles must be controlled by their conscious mind.
What is required to establish criminal liability?
- AR
- MR
- Absence of a valid defence
What are Conduct Offences?
Certain acts that are committed by a defendant which satisfy the actus reus
What are the types of actus reus?
- Conduct offences
- Result offences
- Circumstances
- Omissions
What are Result Offences?
Action which leads to a specified consequence
It must be proved that the action actually caused the result (causation)
What role do Circumstances play in Actus Reus?
Surrounding circumstances which the prosecution need to prove, such as that property ‘belongs to another’
What are Omissions in the context of Actus Reus?
Certain situations where the law imposes a legal obligation to act
What is required for Causation in Result Crimes?
The defendant’s conduct must cause a particular result
This applies to crimes such as murder, manslaughter, criminal damage, and assault.
What are the two types of causation that must be satisfied?
Factual causation and legal causation
What is the test to establish Factual Causation?
It must be proved that ‘but for’ the acts or omissions of the accused, the relevant consequence would not have occurred in the way it did
This principle was established in R v White [1910].
What is legal causation?
The law checks that the defendant is the ‘operating and substantial’ cause of the prohibited consequence.
R v Pagett
What else must be considered in legal causation?
- The defendant’s act must be the ‘substantial’ cause of the prohibited harm, R v Hughes.
- The consequence must be caused by the defendant’s culpable act, R v Dalloway.
- The defendant’s act need not be the only cause of the prohibited consequence, R v Benge.
What is Novus Actus Interveniens?
A subsequent event or act of either the victim or a third party which renders the defendant’s part in the consequence very small, breaking the chain of causation.
How does medical negligence affect the chain of causation?
Courts are reluctant to allow medical malpractice to break the chain of causation; it needs to be ‘so overwhelming as to make the original wound merely part of the history’.
R v Smith (1959).
What is required for acts of third parties to break the chain of causation?
There may only be a break in the chain of causation if the actions of the third party were ‘free, deliberate and informed’.
R v Pagett (1983).
What is the effect of a victim’s ‘Fright and Flight’ on causation?
It is NOT a Novus Actus Interveniens if the victim’s attempt to escape attack is reasonably foreseeable to the ordinary person.
R v Roberts (1972).
Does refusing medical treatment constitute a Novus Actus Interveniens?
No, it will not amount to an NAI as the defendant must take victims as they find them in both mind and body.
R v Blaue [1975].
When is suicide NOT considered a Novus Actus Interveniens?
Suicide is NOT NAI if the defendant’s unlawful act was a significant and operating cause and the act was reasonably foreseeable.
Examples include causing a brilliant pianist to lose her fingers or a keen sportsman to be paralysed.
When is suicide considered a Novus Actus Interveniens?
Suicide is IS NAI if the injuries inflicted may have healed but the defendant goes on to die by suicide, or if it was a voluntary and informed decision of the victim to act.
What is the Thin-Skill Rule?
The defendant must take the victim as they find them.
R v Hayward.
When do natural events break the chain of causation?
Natural events will only be NAI if they are extraordinary and not reasonably foreseeable.
What is the general rule regarding omissions?
Omission, without a duty, will not create an indictable offence (R v Smith (William) (1826)).
What are the steps for an omission to cause criminal liability?
- The crime is capable of being committed by an omission.
- The accused was under a legal duty to act.
- The accused breached that duty.
- The breach caused the actus reus of the offence to occur.
- The accused had any required mens rea.
What are the types of duties that can lead to criminal liability for omission?
- Statutory Duties.
- Special Relationship (e.g. doctors and parents, patients and children, spouses).
- Voluntary assumption of a duty of care.
- A breach of contractual duty.
- Defendant creates a dangerous situation.
- Public Office Holders.
Can defendants cause harm by omission?
Defendants cannot cause by omission but can fail to uncause, which is different.
