Elements Of A Crime Flashcards
What is meant by actus reus?
What the offender does. It is the physical element of the crime including conduct, circumstances and consequences.
What is an involuntary action?
An act which is done by the muscles without any control by the mind.
Can you be found guilty of a crime if the act was involuntary?
No.
What 3 examples of involuntary acts when driving where given in the Hill v Baxter case?
Being stung by a swarm of bees and losing control.
Being hit on the head with a stone and losing control.
Having a heart attack or epileptic fit and losing control.
What is an omission?
Not acting or failing to act.
What is the general rule on omissions?
There is no criminal liability for an omission (you don’t have to endanger yourself to save someone else).
What are the 5 duties to act where someone can be liable for an omission?
Contractual.
Relationship of dependency.
Assuming responsibility voluntarily.
Public office.
Creating a dangerous situation.
What are the details of the case where someone had a contractual duty to act?
R v Pittwood.
D worked for the railway. A man was killed on the railway line when D didn’t close the gate.
What are the details of the case where someone had a duty to act based on a relationship of dependency?
R v Gibbons and Proctor.
A father and his partner killed his child by starving her.
What are the details of the case where someone had a public office duty to act?
R v Dytham.
A police officer watched a fight break out and didn’t call for help and a man died.
What are the details of the case where someone had a duty to act by creating a dangerous situation?
R v Miller.
A man dropped a lit cigarette and started a fire. He woke up and simply moved to a different room. The house burned down. (He was homeless and was squatting there).
What are the two types of causation that must be proven for a defendant to be found guilty?
Factual causation.
Legal causation.
What is the test for factual causation?
‘But for’ test. It must be proved that the consequence to the V would not have happened ‘but for’ the D’s conduct.
What was the R v Pagett case and what was the outcome?
D kidnapped his pregnant girlfriend and ended up in a stand-off with armed police. D used V as a human shield and fired at the police. The police returned fire and killed V.
D was found guilty because V would not have died but for D using her as a human shield. The police officer’s actions were also reasonable and foreseeable so don’t break the chain of causation. This means D was the significant cause of V’s death. Therefore he is the factual and legal cause of V’s death.
What was the R v White case and what was the outcome?
D decided to poison his mother for his inheritance. His mother took a sip of her poisoned drink but coincidentally died of an unrelated heart attack.
D was found not guilty of murder because she would still have died but for the poison in her drink so he is not the factual cause of her death. However he could be found guilty of attempted murder.
What is the test for legal causation?
‘Operative and substantial’ test. D’s conduct must be a significant cause of the consequence to the V.
What are the 3 types of intervening act that can break the chain of causation?
Actions of a third party (e.g the doctors’ palpably wrong treatment in the R v Jordan case).
Victim’s own actions (are the actions proportionate to the threat?).
Natural and unpredictable events (e.g floods, hurricanes, earthquakes).
Which case defined what an involuntary action is?
Bratty v Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
