MURDER ( PAPER 1) Flashcards
What is murder seen as? (Sir Edward Coke)
‘The unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being and under the Kings peace with malice aforethought’
What are the elements of murder? Structure.
1- Unlawful killing
2- Reasonable creature in being
3- Under the Kings peace
4- Causation
5- Malice aforethought (express or implied)
How can D unlawfully kill someone?
By either an voluntary act or an omission
Must D unlawfully kill someone to have murdered?
YES! D must have unlawfully killed V and cant have any legal justifications for doing so
What are the legal justifications for killing someone?
1) Killing in self-defence
2) Killing in an act of war
What is meant by ‘reasonable creature in being’?
For murder to be committed a person must be killed
How do we approach if a unborn child is a reasonable creature in being?
- Child must have had an ‘existence independent of the mother’ (AG’s Reference{NO3 of 1994} 1996)
What happens in (AG’s Reference{NO3 of 1994} 1996)?
-D stabbed his pregnant gf who then prematurely gave birth, child died 121 days after birth, D charged with babys murder
-D gulity of manslaughter not murder
-Baby needed to have an existence independent of its mother
Is a person deemed ‘brain dead’ considered a ‘reasonable creature in being’?
NO!!!
Are doctors allowed to switch off life support machines without being liable for homicide if patient is ‘brain dead’?
YES! (R v Malcherek and Steel)(1981)
What happens in (R v Malcherek and Steel) (1981)?
-D’s caused V’s injuries that caused them on life support, doctors agreed appropriate to take them off life support
-D’s guilty of murder
-The Test of death is where brain stem has died, when machines turned of V’s were already dead, Doctors not cause
What does it mean when a killing must be under the kings peace?
Simply means a killing not as an act of war
Murder is what type of crime?
A result crime
What must the prosecution prove about D? (hint: cause)
-Prosecution must prove D as the FACTUAL and LEGAL cause of death
What must we do to see if D is the FACTUAL cause of death?
-D must be in fact the cause of death (R V PAGETT)
-‘But for’ test used to establish( seen in R v White)
How do we determine D as the LEGAL cause of death?
-They cannot be any break in chain of causation by any intervening acts
- Such as bad medical treatment, unforeseeable 3rd party acts and daft and unforeseeable acts by the Victim
What is Direct intention?
Main aim/ purpose to bring about the consequence (R v Mohan)
What is Oblique intention?
D didnt directly intend to cause outcome, the way they acted they did, outcome virtual certain and D realised this (R v Woolin)
Malice aforethought can be either?
1) Express
2) Implied
How can we view if D had express malice aforethought?
D intended to kill
How can we view if D had implied malice aforethought?
D intended to cause GBH
