Unlawful Act Manslaughter

Cards (11)

  • The defendant committed an unlawful, dangerous act which causes the death of the victim and the defendant has the necessary mens rea for the unlawful act.
  • Four elements:
    1. Act must be unlawful
    2. Unlawful act must be considered dangerous
    3. Act must cause the death
    4. Must have the mens rea for said unlawful act
  • Lamb: Must be able to prove a criminal act.
  • Lowe: An omission is not enough
  • If there is a civil offence, then gross negligence manslaughter should be considered.
  • To find something "dangerous", a "sober and reasonable" person must foresee "some harm".
    Church
  • Mitchell: It was foreseeable that a reasonable person that some injury would occur.
  • Some assaults are dangerous by nature.
    Larkin
  • To find if there's a cause of death, use causation.
    Kennedy
  • The unlawful and dangerous act need not be the sole cause of death so long as it was not trivial.
    Shohid
    Carey
  • You need to show the mens rea for the initial unlawful act.