Definitions Flashcards
Manslaughter
Killing that doesn’t amount to murder.
Voluntary manslaughter: intention to kill | cause GBH but mitigating circumstances, e.g. suicide pact.
Involuntary manslaughter: unlawful killing, caused by unlawful-act | omission-to-perform-legal-duty | gross-negligence
E.g. offender omitted to perform legal duty; offender acted unlawfully but didn’t envisage death
Unlawful act
Breach of Act, bylaw or regulation (S2)
Likely to do harm (Myatt) or be inherently dangerous
Wilfully frightening
Intended to frighten or be reckless to it
Vulnerable adult
A person unable,
by reason of age | sickness | mental impairment | other,
to withdraw themself from care | charge of another
Justified & Protected from criminal responsibility
Justified: person not guilty of offence & not civilly liable
Protected from criminal responsibility: person not guilty of offence & is civilly liable
M’Naghten test
A person who is insane
acts under a defect (disease of the mind) preventing them from thinking rationally such that they don’t know:
- The nature and quality of their actions
- What they were doing was wrong
Automatism
A state of total blackout,
where a person is not conscious | in-control-of their actions
Alibi
The plea in a criminal charge
of having been elsewhere at the material time:
the fact of being elsewhere
Compulsion
The act of compelling a person to something against their will
Disease of mind
Undefined, but derangement in the widest sense.
- Includes conditions, e.g. epilepsy.
- Excludes temporary mental disorder caused by external factor, e.g. blow-on-head | alcohol/drugs | anaesthetic | hypnosis
- Brain damaged | not-damaged
- Permananent | temporary | short-lived | long-lived | curable | not-curable
- Legal question, judge has the final word
- Law concerned with memory, understanding, reasoning
