murder - actus reus

• three elements must be proven:

  1. unlawful killing, the defendant has caused the death of the victim
  2. reasonable creature in being
  3. under the king’s peace
• murder may be committed via an act or omission
• r v dyson: hastened the moment of death
• malcherek and steel: the turning off of life-support does not break the chain of causation
• it must be proved that the person was a living human being prior to the moment of death. this creates two problems: is a foetus a rcib and is a brain dead person a rcib?
• a foetus in the womb is not a reasonable creature in being
• rance v mid-downs health authority: a child is born alive ’if, after birth, it exists as a live child, that is to say, breathing and living by reason of its breathing through its own lungs alone, without deriving any of its living or power of living by or through any connection with its mother’
• attorney generals reference (no. 3 of 1994): if the act causing death occurs prior to the birth, it will not be considered murder
• as outline in malcherek and steel, a person who is brain stem dead is legally recognised as dead
• the killing of an enemy during wartime will not amount to murder