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Summary Offence of Murder - Notes and Explanations

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Detailed notes and explanations To the Offence of Murder in Criminal Law.

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  • No
  • Murder
  • April 27, 2021
  • 9
  • 2020/2021
  • Summary
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Murder
No statutory defintion Definition- Lord Justice Coke

 (When a man of sound memory and the age of discretion) unlawfully killeth any
reasonable creature in rerum natura under the King’s peace, with mailce
aforethought

Actus Reus

 Unlawful killing of a human being under the Queen’s Peace

‘any reasonable creature’= human being

  Not a foetus
  Born alive, wholly expelled and capable of existence independently from the
mother
  David Ormerod in Smith and Hogan = independent existence, independent
circulation and should have breathed after birth (problematic)
  Born alive, wholly expelled and capable of existence independently from the
mother
  Death= where the brain stem has ceased to function, no electrical activity (3
Law Lords accepted this definition obiter in Airedale NHS Trust v. Bland
Queen’s (King’s) Peace
  Outside of wartime

Causation

Homicide is a result crime so the act or omission of D must have caused the death of
V (or accelerated it)
Factual

  Apply the ‘but for’ test as established in White. But for the conduct of the
defendant, the victim would not have died.



 Legal
  D’s contribution to V’s death must be the operating and substantial cause
(Smith)
  Substantial = “more than slight or trifling” (Kimsey), D’s action not sole
cause but must be more than minimal – Benge
  There must be no novus actus interveniens (no break in the chain)

Can include

o The ‘free, deliberate and informed act of a third party’ Pagett – shot at police, used
girlfriend as shield, officers shot her, deliberate act but not free (self defence)

, o Abnormal natural event coinciding with or occurring after D’s conduct
o Negligent medical treatment, but sub-standard won’t if original injury still playing
significant part


o Smith- stabbed but then dropped twice and wrong treatment but didn’t break chain
(original wound substantial cause of death)

o Cheshire
o Jordan- original wound was nearly healed, hospital gave him antibiotics he was
allergic too, broke the chain. Medical treatment was ‘palpably wrong’


Mens Rea

Malice aforethought = no wickedness or premeditation “intention to kill or cause
GBH”

Moloney

It is either EXPRESS or IMPLIED

Express malice

  Intention to kill
  R v Vickers

Implied malice

  Intention to cause GBH
  GBH= “really serious harm” DPP v Smith, “serious harm” Saunders

Mens rea can extend to oblique intention... has the meaning attributed to it in
Woollin. The degree of foresight in relation to oblique intention has differed
over the years;

  Moloney- If the result was a “natural consequence” of D’s actions, and D
realised this. Fairly low standard, problematic because something can be a
natural consequence without being certain (conception)
  Hancock and Shankland- Lord Scarman changes foresight to “degrees of
probability”, higher probability= increases likelihood that consequence was
foreseen= greater probability it was intended
  Nedrick- result (of death/serious injury) was a “virtually certain” result of
D’s actions AND did D appreciate the result was virtually certain? Lord Lane
changes test to “foresight of virtual certainty”
  Woollin- Lord Steyn endorsed Nedrick and the “virtually certain” test with
both elements.

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