Week 9 - UAM

Question 1

Requirement for involuntary manslaughter

Answer 1

• has the AR for murder but not the MR for murder.

Question 2

3 types of involuntary manslaughter

Answer 2

1 - unlawful act manslaughter (AUM)
2 - Gross negligence manslaughter
3 - reckless manslaughter

Question 3

UAM

Answer 3

• unlawful act + objectively dangerous + causing death = criminal liability
• CL offence
• also known as constructive manslaughter

Question 4

1 - Unlawful Act

Answer 4

• the base offence must be unlawful (Franklin 1883)
• cna have a low threshold (Mallet - one punch killer).
  -Restrictions on base offence: requires subjective MR (Andrew v DPP) and must be an act not an omission (Lowe)

Question 5

2 - Objectively dangerous

Answer 5

• Church - a dangerous act must carry at least the ‘risk of some serious harm’
  -‘the unlawful act must be such that all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise that it must subject the other person to, at least, the risk of some harm resulting therefrom, albeit not serious harm’.
• only exception where D has special knowledge which may not be apparent to ordinary person.
• Johnston [2007] - spitting and insulting an apparently healthy V was not dangerous even though V suffered a heart attack shortly after and died.

Question 6

3 - Act must cause death

Answer 6

• • A-G’s Reference (No 3 of 1994) [1998] AC 245
• Carey [2006] - The unlawful act must cause the death, not another act that occurred at the same time.

Question 7

3 - Cause death - Fright and flight

Answer 7

• where V flees the scene and dies when in flight
• D lacks MR ad V appears healthy -> difficult to foresee harm
• must be shown that Vs conduct in fleeing didmi break chain of causation.
• Vs response mist not be wholly disproportionate of daft (Lewis).

Question 8

3 - cause of death - Drug supply

Answer 8

• voluntarily takes controlled drugs supplied dby D and dies form effects
• Kennedy No2 - no laibility in these cases.
• Vs free and voluntary acts in self-administering the drug will break the chain of causation between D’s base offence (supply) and V’s death.

Question 9

3 - cause of death - suicide

Answer 9

• V is distressed by D’s base offence to such an extent that they take their life by suicide
• Ds base offence causes physical injury = D’s offence remains a subtactialand operating cause of death, V has no duty to limit the harm caused by D, D must take V as they found them (Blaue).
• D offence causes psychiatric harm = more difficult to prove that V’s suicide was nto free and voluntary act which breaks chain of causation.