Criminal Law - Fatal Offences Against The Person Flashcards
What is the definition of murder?
The unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the kings peace in any country of the realm with malice aforethought express or implied
-Lord Coke
What is the actus reus of murder?
The unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the kings peace in any country of the realm
What is meant by an unlawful killing?
All elements of actus reus apply
It can be an act or an omission
It must have factual and legal causation
Special relationship - R v Gibbons and Proctor
Contractual relationship - R v Pitwood
Starting a chain of events - R v Miller
Assuming a duty - R v Stone and Dobinson
Official position - R v Dytham
What is meant by a reasonable creature in being?
AG reference No3 of 1994
If a foetus dies in utero it is not murder because it is not a reasonable creature in being
If a baby is born and dies clearly as a result of Ds actions it is murder as it is a reasonable creature in being
If baby dies and it is not clearly because of Ds actions it could be manslaughter (depends whether you can prove intention)
What is the mens rea of murder?
Malice aforethought express or implied
What is meant by malice aforethought?
Intention to kill or cause GBH
Can be direct (R v Mohan) or oblique (R v Woollin)
What is meant by express?
Intention to kill
What is meant by implied?
Intention to cause GBH
What is meant by voluntary manslaughter?
When the defendant has satisfied the actus reus and mens rea fro murder but has one of two defences
Loss of control
Diminished responsibility
This was set out in the coroners and justice act 2009 - gives the judge discretion to lower sentence and not give mandatory life sentence
What is meant by involuntary manslaughter?
They have satisfied the actus reus for murder but not the mens rea
What is the definition of voluntary manslaughter?
Section 54(1) - a person who kills or was party to a killing may be convicted of manslaughter rather than murder where there exists
A) a loss of self control
B) the loss of self control had a qualifying trigger
C) a person of the defendants sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance and restraint, and in circumstances might have reacted in the same or similar way
What is meant by a loss of self control?
R v Jewell - ‘’a loss of ability to act in accordance with considered judgement or normal powers of reasoning’’ (Lord J Rafferty)
The loss of control need not be sudden or total
R v Dawes - cumulative impact counts
It is an objective test (what would the reasonable man do)
What is meant by the loss of control had a qualifying trigger?
Section 55(3) - the loss of self control was attributed to Ds fear of violence from V against D or another identified person
R v Ward
R v Dawes - wife and victim on the sofa together led to an altercation
Section 55(6a) - cannot use fear trigger if you cause the conditions of your own defence
Section 55(4) - the loss of self control was attributed to things said or done which
A) constituted circumstances of an extremely grave character
B) caused D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged
It is a subjective test (based on how D felt)
Section 55(6c) - sexual infidelity alone is not a qualifying trigger
R v Zebedee
R v Clinton
What is meant by a person of Ds sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance and restraint, and in circumstances might have reacted in a same or similar way?
Section 54(7) - a person who but for this section would be liable to be convicted of murder is liable instead to be convicted of manslaughter
We can also consider mental illness
Depression (R v Clinton)
Personality disorder: PTSD (R v Rejmanski), paranoid schizophrenia
Voluntary intoxication is not a defence for LOC unless a sober reasonable person would have done the same thing in those circumstances
What is diminished responsibility?
S2 Homicide Act 1957 as amended by S52 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 - a person who kills or who is party to a killing is not to be convicted of murder if they were suffering from an abnormality of a mental functioning which must arise from a recognised medical condition, has to have substantially impaired the defendant’s ability to
A) understand the nature of their conduct
B) form rational judgment
C) exercise self control
And provides an explanation for the defendents acts or omissions as doing or being party to a killing
