unlawful act manslaughter

Question 1

paragraph one: definition

Answer 1

when D causes V’s death whilst carrying out a criminal act that is deemed to be dangerous

Question 2

paragraph two: AR unlawful act

Answer 2

a) must be a criminal offence not a civil wrong (franklin, rodgers)
b) must be an act not an omission (lowe, lamb)

Question 3

paragraph three: AR dangerous

Answer 3

a) any criminal offence can form an unlawful act if it involves a dangerous act likely to cause injury (church)
b) the risk need only be of “some harm” (larkin, mitchell)
c) it’s enough that the sober and reasonable man would foresee some harm not the actual harm that was done (r v jm and sm)
d) dangerous act can be aimed at properly (goodfellow)
e) physical harm is needed, not enough to frighten someone (dawson, watson)

Question 4

paragraph four: AR substantial cause of death

Answer 4

normal rules of causation apply (factual, legal and intervening acts)
(corian-augusite, sohid)

Question 5

paragraph five: MR

Answer 5

a) D must have MR for unlawful act which is dangerous and caused death
b) D doesn’t need to foresee death or injury (newbury and jones, lebrun)