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Murder-Fatal Offences Against The Person
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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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