Murder Flashcards
Q: What does homicide cover?
Homicide covers offences of murder, manslaughter and other occasions where a person causes, or is involved in, the death of another.
Q: What type of offence is murder?
Common law offence, triable only on indictment. It is the only offence in English law that carries a fixed mandatory life sentence.
Q: What is murder?
Murder is committed when a person of sound mind and discretion unlawfully kills another human under the King’s Peace, with malice aforethought.
Q: What does sound mind and discretion mean?
Of sound mind- means that D must not be legally insane. They would be entitled to a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and incarcerated in a secure hospital.
Discretion- means they must be at the age of discretion (aged at least 10 years old).
Q: What does ‘unlawful killing’ mean?
This means actively causing the death of another without legal justification.
‘Unlawfully’ can be taken to exclude killings for which the accused has a complete and valid justification, such as killing (reasonably) in self-defence.
It also includes occasions where someone fails to act or after creating a situation of danger (omission).
Q: What does ‘killing’ mean?
Requires some form of action which proves to be a substantial cause of death. Substantial in this context means more than minimal.
Q: What does ‘another human being’ mean?
‘Another human being’ includes a baby who has been born alive and has an existence independent of its mother.
‘Existence independent of its mother’ means that the child is fully expelled from the womb; the umbilical cord need not be cut and for it to be able to survive outside of its mother’s body.
If a baby has taken its first breath without help from its mother, then it can be a victim of murder. If the baby needs medical intervention to breath, then it can still be a victim of murder, as it has a life independent from its mother.
Q: What if pre-natal injuries have been sustained by the baby in the womb and it later dies from those injuries after having been born?
If a person injures a baby whilst it is still in its mother’s womb, and it subsequently dies from those injuries (after it has been born alive and has become a human being under the law) it may be appropriate to bring a charge of murder. It will depend on whether D intended to kill or injure the mother or the unborn child.
Q: What if a defendant intended to harm the mother and not the baby, but the baby dies as a consequence after being born?
AG ref (No. 3 of 1994) [1998]- If a D intended to kill or cause serious injury to the mother and not the baby, that intention cannot support a charge of murder in respect of the baby if it goes on to die after being born alive. It may, however, support a charge of manslaughter.
Needs to be intention towards the baby itself!
Q: What does ‘under the King’s Peace’ mean?
Deaths caused by military personnel during the legitimate prosecution of warfare are excluded from the war of murder.
Q: What is the MR for murder?
Must be committed with malice aforethought. There are 2 forms for this.
This means intention to kill or cause GBH. It does not require any malice in terms of spite.
Q: How is the MR different for murder and attempted murder?
Murder MR: intention to kill or cause GBH
Attempted murder MR: intention to kill ONLY
Q: What type of offence is murder in terms of geography?
It is an extra-territorial offence. This means that any British citizen who commits murder anywhere in the world may be tried in England or Wales. It does not matter what nationality the victim was. All that matters is that at the time the offence took place, wherever it took place, D was a British citizen.
Q: What is the Year and a Day rule?
S1 Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996 abolished the limitation that death had to occur within a year and a day of the infliction of injury.
Q: When is the consent of the AG required in homicide/fatal offences?
Under s2 of the 1996 Act, the consent of the AG or solicitor general is required to prosecute an offence of homicide in either of 2 situations:
(a) the injury alleged to have caused the death was sustained more than three years before death occurred; or
(b) the person has previously been convicted of an offence committed in circumstances alleged to be connected to the death
