elements of crime(ar and causation) Flashcards
What are the 6 examples of Omissions as Actus Reus in the uk
- A Statutory Duty
- A Contractual Duty
- A Duty due to Special Relationship
- A Duty that was taken on Voluntarily
- A Duty due to Official position
- A duty which arises due to a chain events that are set in motion by the D
What case is an example of Contractual Duty
R v Pittwood (1902)
What case is an example of Duty created due to Special Relationship
R v Gibbins + Proctor (1918)
What case is an example of Duty undertaken voluntarily
R v Stone + Dobinson (1977)
What case is an example of Duty as a result of Official Position
R v Dytham (1979)
What case is an example of Duty due to events set in motion by the Defendant
R v Miller (1983)
What happened in R v Pittwood (1902)?
D was employed by a railway company and left a gate open on an active rail line.
This led to a man being hit by a train on his horse + cart
D was found criminally liable as they failed to close the gate and do their duty.
What happened in R v Gibbins + Proctor?
A father and step-mother of a seven year old girl neglected and starved her.
They were both charged with Murder.
What happened in R v Stone + Dobinson (1977)?
D1 and D2 agreed to house V, who was D1’s elderly sister and was anorexic and bedridden. On at least one occasion D2 cared for V. V later died of malnutrition.
Both D1 and D2 were charged with manslaughter, they both owed a duty of care to V and failed to do so.
What happened in R v Dytham (1979)
A police officer witnessed a group of 3 men kicking a drunken man, he refused to intervene and actively claimed to passersby that he was off duty.
He was charged with willfully and without reasonable excuse neglecting to perform his duty and with misconduct in a public office.
What happened in R v Miller (1983)?
A man fell asleep in a squat on a mattress with a lit cigarette. Once he woke up to the building on fire he failed to intervene and try to fix the problem.
He couldn’t be charged with arson for the mattress, as it was ruled to be an accident. He was charged with Arson for his failure to take reasonable steps to deal with the fire later on.
what are the two elements of a crime
actus reus -physical
mens rea -mental
what does actua reus translate to
guilty act
what can actus reus be through
an act
a state of affairs
an omission
what’s a conduct crime
a crime where the act is prohibited no consequences needed
eg speeding perjury blackmail
what’s a consiquence crime
the act is not enough there must also be a consiquence
eg murder assault
what happens is the act by d is not voluntary
if d has no control they have not committed actus reus
what examples were given in hill v baxter
court gave examples of when a driver could not be in control
heart attack
bees
hit on head by stone
what happens in the case of R v mitchell which shows someone’s actions not being voluntary
D told off by man 72
D pushes man who falls into woman (87)
woman falls and dies
D is guilty man isn’t
what is a state of affairs crime
when the act is from being something not doing something
eg possession of drugs or weapon
what’s an absolute liability case
if you are being something (voluntarily or not) you will be convicted
give an example of an absolute liability case and what happened
R v larsonneur
D deported to England against her will
after arrival charges as being an illegal alien
conviction still upheld
what’s an omission
failure to forfill a moral obligation
what is the normal rule for omissions in the uk
they can not make a person guilty of an offence
what’s a good samaritan law
in contries like france and germany a person is responsible for helping others in an emergency situation
eg someone drowning
what are the problems with the good samaritan law
people can pretend
an untrained person can cause more harm
what’s an emergency
could person at risk
what’s a statutory omission
not adhering to a statute
eg not reporting an accident by the road traffic act 1988
what three things must be proven for consiquence crimes to prove cause
the factual cause
the legal cause
no break in chain of events
how is factual causation proven
‘but for’ test -if the consiquence would have happened anyway then d is not guilty
eg r v pagett r v white
what happened in r v pagett
man kidnaps girl
he uses her a shield and shoots at police
police shoot back and kill the girl
he’s guilty as if he didn’t shoot the police wouldn’t
what’s legal causation
looks at the ‘%’ of the Ds contribution to the consiquence
why do you look at legal causation
there could be more than one contributing factor
d can be guilty if conducts is more than minimal (de minimis)
what happened in R v hughes
legal causation
D had no lisence/insurence
v driving in wrong side of road
d collided with v
d had no legal cause so charge quashed
what was stated in R v kimsey
D must have more then ‘a slight or trifling link’
what’s the think skull rule
D must take their v as they find them
what happens in r v blaue
think skull rule
D stabbed v
v needed blood transfusion
v refuse as they were a jehovahs whites
v died
d convicted of murder
wound was fatal and d was still guilty bc of thin skull
what is the intervening act knows as in latin
novus actus interveniens
what are the three ways the chain of causation can be broken
act of a third party
victims own act
a natural but unpredictable act
how can the actions of a third party break the chain of events
if the actions are unforeseeable and sufficiently independent and serious the chain will break
if the actions are foreseeable then no break
will medical treatment break the chain
not likely
give examples of cases with medical intervention
r v smith
r v jordan
r v cheshire
what happens to the chain if life support is switched off
nothing d is still guilty
how can the actions of the victim break the chain of events
if v actions are foreseeable then any injury’s are d fault
if the vs actions are unreasonable then d may be found not guilty
give examples of cases where the victims own actions are taken into consideration for chain
r v roberts
r v williams
r v kennedy
how can a natural event break the chain of events
if an event cannot be foreseen eg a tsunami the cain may be broken
explain the case of r v smith
v and d are fighting
D stabs v in lung
v is dropped on the way to hospital and given bad artificial respiration
v does
d still guilty bc stab was the cause
explain the case of r v jordan
d stabbed v in stomach
v healing well
v allergic to antibiotic
doc gives v a large does and v die
actions of doc were intervening
D not guilty for murder
explain the case of r v malcharek
d stabbed v
v on life support and brain dead
life support turned of (v dies)
d convicted of murder
explain the case of r v roberts
a girl jumped from a car to stop sexual advances
girl had injuries
d held liable as actions were foreseeable
explain the case of r v williams
d picked up hitchhiker v
v jumped out of car bc d ‘tried to steal wallet’
v died + d found guilty of manslaughter
convictions quashed as v actions were unforeseeable/ not proportional to threat
explain the case of r v kennedy
d supplied drug do v
v took it themself
v died
d not liable as self administration broke chain
