Necessity Defences Flashcards
What are the 6 defences?
Mistake Self defence Duress by threat Duress by circumstances Necessity Consent
What case described mistake?
Mistake in facts, not mistake in law
Reid-ignorance of law is no excuse
Other 3 mistake cases and what happened
Tolson-mistake must be reasonable-D thought husband died so married someone else, was reasonable
DPP v Morgan-mistake must be genuine not necessarily reasonable. Let officers have sex with wife;held belief in wife’s consent had to be genuine not reasonable
O’Grady-voluntary intoxicated mistake is no defence
Who does self defence cover?
Oneself and others from attack.
Where is self defence contained in and when?
S3 Criminal Law Act 1967
Can use such force as is reasonable to prevent crime or assist in lawful arrest.
3 key questions for self-defence
Force for a permitted purpose?
Force necessary?
Force reasonable?
Force for a permitted purpose reasons (3)
Protect self/others
Protect property (Criminal Damage Act 1971)
Prevent crime
Force necessary question and section
S76(3)-Was force necessary based on facts defendant believed them to be?
Force necessary cases (2)
Williams-where D makes a genuine mistake-they must be judged by facts as they believed them to be
Tried to stop man robbing woman but was man was actually trying to arrest other.
Hussain-if attacker is running away, unlikely force is necessary
Force reasonable and section
S76(3)-force must be proportionate in circumstances
What is reasonable force if there is a legitimate purpose?
A person may not be able to weigh the exact measure of necessary force, so an allowance is made.
If D does what they honestly thought was necessary, strong evidence action is reasonable
Reasonable force cases
R v Clegg-V killed by bullet fired when car was 50ft away-force was unreasonable-excessive (CLEG IN THE CAR)
R v Martin-psychiatric conditions are irrelevant
Householder cases on force
Wider defence-Degree of force reasonable as long as not grossly disproportionate
Duress by threat MAIN CASE
Hasan-standard test for threat
What must threat be of? case if can remember
Death or serious injury, not threats to reveal info (Valderamma Vega)
What must threat also be?
Immediate
Immediate threat cases (2)
R v Hudson & Taylor-‘immediately’ interpreted widely
2 girls threatened by gang memeber in public gallery in trial. Protected during trial but at threat after trial so was still immediate.
R v Abdul v Hussain-fled country due to risk of punishment for religion-stole plane-threat was imminent (hanging over them) so quashed.
Duress by threat test case
Graham-2 stage test
a)D had reasonable belief circumstances would result in serious injury/death if not comply
b)sober person of firmness would’ve done the same
R v Cole
D’s crime must be directly caused by threat
D was in debt and threatened. Robbed building societies-not duress as threat did not specifically make D rob
Duress of circumstances
Situation forces D to commit a crime, with no evasive action to take.
Necessity (similar to duress)
D either commits crime or suffer extreme hardship-very limited defence
Dudley v Stephens
Ate cabin boy in order survive-necessity allowed to lower sentence as faced with terrible dilemma
3 requirements for necessity (3)
Act is needed to avoid inevitable and irreparable evil
No more than necessary is done
Evil inflicted must be proportionate to evil avoided
What must consent be, and case
Real
Dica-consented to sex but was not told he had HIV, so consent became unavailable
