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Murder-Fatal Offences Against The Person
This document is about murder which is the part of fatal offences against the person. This document includes actus reus and mens rea of murder. Good Luck!
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Murder:Lord Coke-‘Unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being and under the King’sPeace with malice aforethought, express or implied.’ It is a common law offence, no statue
defines it. Most serious fatal offence which has mandatory life sentence (maximum).
Actus reus:1.the defendant killed 2.a reasonable creature in being 3.under the King’s peace
and 4.the killing was unlawful.
Killed:actus reus of killing can be an act or omission (failure to act). It must cause the death
of the victim. Omission can make a person liable for the offence of murder as in R v Gibbins
and Proctor. The chain of causation must not be broken by intervening acts (poor medical
treatment), if it is broken , then it won’t be an offence of murder,
R v Smith, R v Jordan.
Reasonable creature in being:this means a human being. Person must be killed to be an
offence of murder. It is not certain whether a brain dead person can be considered as a
reasonable creature in being or not. Attorney General’s Reference (N3 of 1994) (1997):if a
foetus is injured and a child is born alive, but dies afterwards because of these injuries, it can
be the actus reus of murder or manslaughter. If a person is brain-dead, doctors are allowed
to switch off life support machines. The Law Reform (Year and Day Rule) Act 1996 doesn’t
set a time limit when the death may occur after the unlawful act, however, where it is more
than 3 years from unlawful act, prosecution needs Attorney General’s consent to prosecute.
King’s peace:killing a person during war is not a murder, however, killing a prisoner of war
would be sufficient for actus reus of murder.
Unlawful:killing must be unlawful. It won’t be unlawful if: 1.self-defence 2.in defence of
another 3.prevention of crime where defendant used reasonable force in circumstances.
Mens rea:malice aforethought, express or implied. Express malice aforethought is the
intention to kill. Implied malice aforethought is intention to cause grievous bodily harm
(GBH): The person will be guilty of murder even though they didn’t intend to kill, R v Vickers,
R v Cunningham (intention for GBH was sufficient for the mens rea of murder). DPP v Smith:
GBH is ‘really serious bodily harm’.
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