General Flashcards
What are the two main purposes of law enforcement?
To prevent crime
Bring offenders to justice
What separates criminal law from other types of law?
The prospect if punishment
How are offences triable?
Summarily
On indictment
What are the 3 elements in crime?
Actus reus
Mens rea
Defences
What are the two types is defences?
Excusatory
Justificatory
What does actus reus consist of?
Conduct
The conduct to be wrongful
Result (if necessary)
What makes an act an act?
Bodily movement
Voluntarily
What happened in the case of R v Larsonneur 1933?
A French subject was granted leave to land in the UK and subsequently had this revoked. She went to the Irish free state and was sent back to the uk where she was arrested as an alien under the Aliens Order 1920, as amended. Appeal was dismissed
Who was the judge in R v Larsonneur 1933?
What did he say?
Lord Hewart
That circumstances by which ms Larsonneur found herself in England were perfectly immaterial.
What happened in the case of Woolmington v DPP 1935 AC?
A 21 year old farm labourer shit his wife in heart. He claimed it was accidental. The trial judge ruled that the evidence was so strong against Woolmington that the onus was in him to prove it was an accident. He was found guilty of murder
Was the appeal in Woolmington v DPP 1935 successful?
The appeal to the criminal court if appeal was unsuccessful
The appeal to the House of Lords was successful
What happened in Bratty v Attorney General for Northern Ireland 1961?
The defendant killed a girl by strangling her with her stockings. He claimed he didn’t know what he had done that a ‘blackness had come over him’
The trial judge removed the defence of automatism from the jury and left them the defence of insanity.
Court if appeal upheld decision
What was established in Woolmington v DPP 1935?
When dealing with a murder case the crown prosecution must prove
A) death as a result of a voluntary act
B) malice of the accused
In what case did Lord Denning say ‘no act is punishable…’?
Bratty v attorney general for Northern Ireland 1961
What happened in NHS trust v bland 1993?
The patient was in a persistent vegetative state for 3 years. Life support was requested to be ended. Lord Goff confirmed this action was an omission not a positive act of killing
What year was Airedale NHS trust v Bland?
1993
What happened in Miller 1983?
The defendant who was squatting fell asleep without putting out his cigarette. He moved rooms instead of putting out the fire.
What happened in R v Byrne 1960?
The appellant strangled a girl and mutilated her dead body. The defence of diminished responsibility was not afforded and he was charged of murder. The court of appeal allowed the appeal on the grounds that his circumstances met the criteria for diminished responsibility.