Murder Flashcards
What type of crime is Murder?
Murder is a result crime: the defendant cannot be guilty unless his act or omission caused the death.
What type of offence is Murder?
Murder is a common law offence.
Include this in the first line of your essay
What is the Actus Reus for Murder?
Consists of three elements, and can be comitted through an Act or Omission.
1. Must be an unlawful killing, not in self-defence
(R v Martin)
2. The killing must be of a reasonable creature in being
(A-G Reference No3 of 1944)
3. AR must be committed under the Queen’s peace and not in a time of war.
Causation
What is the Factual Cause?
What is the Cause in Law?
What is the ‘But For’ Test?
Prosecution must prove D was the factual cause of the consequence, the cause in fact. (R v Pagett)
The result must have been caused by the Actus Reus in law. There must be more than an operating and substantial link.
“But for the Defendant’s action, would the consequence have occurred?”
What is the Cause in Law? (Causation)
The result must have been caused by the Actus Reus in law. There must be more than an operating and substantial link.
What is the “Thin Skull Rule”?
links to cause in law, causation
Thin Skull rule states, the Defendant must take their victim as he finds them. Eg, if a defendant had an already injured arm before the D stabbed them in it, regardless of the preexisting injury, the circumstance would be D’s fault.
What is the Mens Rea for Murder?
Malice Aforethought (Intention to Kill) Implied Malice Aforethought (Intention to cause GBH)- defined in R v Vickers
What must the prosecution prove for Mens Rea?
Direct Intention (R v Mohan)
Oblique Intention (R v Woolin), shown using the…
Foresight of Consequences Test:
1. Was the consequence a virtual certainty?
2. Did D realise this?
What did the case of Mathews and Alleyne state?
D’s were the virtual cause of the consequence, but there was no intention?
What are two possible defences to Murder?
Exam can ask for possible defences, alongside a murder scenario for 25 marks
- Loss of Control, reformed in Cororners and Justice Act 2009, R v Ahluwalia
- Diminished Responsibility, Homicide Act 1957, R v Bryne
