Necessity Defences

Question 1

What are the 6 defences?

Answer 1

Mistake
Self defence
Duress by threat
Duress by circumstances
Necessity
Consent

Question 2

What case described mistake?

Answer 2

Mistake in facts, not mistake in law

Reid-ignorance of law is no excuse

Question 3

Other 3 mistake cases and what happened

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Who does self defence cover?

Answer 4

Oneself and others from attack.

Question 5

Where is self defence contained in and when?

Answer 5

S3 Criminal Law Act 1967

Can use such force as is reasonable to prevent crime or assist in lawful arrest.

Question 6

3 key questions for self-defence

Answer 6

Force for a permitted purpose?
Force necessary?
Force reasonable?

Question 7

Force for a permitted purpose reasons (3)

Answer 7

Protect self/others
Protect property (Criminal Damage Act 1971)
Prevent crime

Question 8

Force necessary question and section

Answer 8

S76(3)-Was force necessary based on facts defendant believed them to be?

Question 9

Force necessary cases (2)

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Force reasonable and section

Answer 10

S76(3)-force must be proportionate in circumstances

Question 11

What is reasonable force if there is a legitimate purpose?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Reasonable force cases

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Householder cases on force

Answer 13

Wider defence-Degree of force reasonable as long as not grossly disproportionate

Question 14

Duress by threat MAIN CASE

Answer 14

Hasan-standard test for threat

Question 15

What must threat be of? case if can remember

Answer 15

Death or serious injury, not threats to reveal info (Valderamma Vega)

Question 16

What must threat also be?

Answer 16

Immediate

Question 17

Immediate threat cases (2)

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Duress by threat test case

Answer 18

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

Question 19

R v Cole

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Duress of circumstances

Answer 20

Situation forces D to commit a crime, with no evasive action to take.

Question 21

Necessity (similar to duress)

Answer 21

D either commits crime or suffer extreme hardship-very limited defence

Question 22

Dudley v Stephens

Answer 22

Ate cabin boy in order survive-necessity allowed to lower sentence as faced with terrible dilemma

Question 23

3 requirements for necessity (3)

Answer 23

Act is needed to avoid inevitable and irreparable evil
No more than necessary is done
Evil inflicted must be proportionate to evil avoided

Question 24

What must consent be, and case

Answer 24

Real

Dica-consented to sex but was not told he had HIV, so consent became unavailable

Question 25

General rule for consent

Answer 25

Cannot be a defence for ABH and above, but exceptions exist

Question 26

4 exceptions to general rule of consent

Answer 26

Properly conducted sports games
Lawful surgery
Normal sex
Horseplay

Question 27

Properly conducted sports cases (2)

Answer 27

Force must be reasonably expected within game e.g boxing, expected to get punched.

R v Barnes-tackle caused GBH type injury, but was reasonable

R v Billingshurst-punched V during rugby game-was not reasonable expected within game so defence failed

Question 28

Lawful surgery case

Answer 28

R v Wilson-branded initials on wife’s arse, got infected. Dr reported to police Held:consent

Question 29

Normal sex case

Answer 29

R v Donovan-D caned girl for sexual gratification-there was consent

Question 30

Horseplay case

Answer 30

R v Jones and Others

Boys thrown in air, failed to catch them-was consent

Question 31

Fraud on consent

Answer 31

Negates consent if deceives identity, or nature/quality of act

Question 32

R v Richardson

Answer 32

Dentist did not tell patient she had been struck off, patients would not have consented if they knew, so guilty-consent was not real