Unlawful Act Manslaughter Flashcards
Case law for Act not omission
R v Stone and Dobinson - An omission will be insufficient for UAM
Case law for act being unlawful
R v Franklin - An unlawful act must be criminal, not civil
Case law for act being complete
R v Lamb - D must have both MR and AR of the unlawful act
Examples of unlawful acts?
- Assault
- Battery
- Criminal Damage
What is the mens rea for assault?
intention or recklessness as to cause V to apprehend imediate and unlawful force
What is the mens rea for battery?
intention or recklessness to apply unlawful force on/to another person.
What is the mens rea for criminal damage?
Intention or recklessness as to cause damage to property
Case law for mens rea?
DPP v Newbury and Jones - D only needs the MR for the unlawful act, not for any harm or death that followed.
Case law for self neglect
R v Dear - Self neglect by V doesn’t break the CoC
Case law for D injecting V
Cato - CoC is unbroken here as D administered V the drugs
Case law for D preparing the needle for V
Kennedy (No2) CoC is broken as V chose to inject themselves
What is the Church test?
dangerous act
Church shows that an act is dangerous if the reasonable and sober person would realise the risk of some physical harm
Case laws for risk of physical harm
dangerous act There are 2
Dawson - Emotional harm isn’t enough to prove D’s act is dangerous
Watson - The act is dangerous if the reasonable man would reaslise there is a risk of harm
Case law for what harm needs to be foresawn
R v JM and SM - D does not need to foresee the specific harm caused, just some kind of physical harm.
Paragraph structure
- Identify
- Explain unlawful act + apply
- mens rea
- Causation
- Expain Dangerous act + apply
Case law for damage to property
Goodfellow - an unlawful act can be aimed at property
Case law row low mental age
R v Farnon and Ellis - liability of someone with a low mental age is not effected as you look at what the reasonable and sober person could foresee not what D can foresee.
