Murder

• Murder is a mandatory life sentence
• Murder (Common law offence)


  Defined by Lord Coke as: "… the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature in being under the King's peace with malice aforethought, express or implied"
• Actus Reus of Murder

  • Unlawful this means not in self-defence or other justified killing
  • Reasonable creature in being- a living human being
• Attorney-General's Reference (no 3 of 1994) (1997) case tells us when life begins: A foetus in womb is not a reasonable creature in being. A foetal stabbing can only lead to the actus reus of murder if the child is born and then dies of its injuries. The intent to cause GBH to the mother cannot be transferred to the unborn child.
• Malcherek case tells us when life ends: Death is tested using the brain stem test. If there is no brain activity, then the person is dead. Where doctors find no brain activity and turn off the life support machine there is no break in the chain of causation as the person is already legally dead.
• Under the King's peace

  Not wartime and the defendant is not acting in a military capacity. It must also be within any country of the realm. For our purposes this means within the UK.
• The actus reus can be an omission
• Omission cases

  • Pittwood - Contractual duty
  • Gibbons & Proctor - Relationship duty
  • Stone and Dobinson - Voluntary assumption of duty
  • Miller - Duty to minimise harmful effects
• Causation for Murder

  • But for test (White)
  • De minimis rule (Cato)
  • Novus actus - victim's own acts (Williams), negligent medical treatment (Jordan)
• Under the thin skull rule you must take your victim as you find them
• Blaue case - chain of causation was unbroken
• Smith, Roberts, Malcherek cases - chain of causation was unbroken
• Jordan case - chain of causation was broken
• Williams case - chain of causation was broken
• Mens rea for Murder

  • Malice aforethought, express or implied (Lord Coke)
  • Express malice - intent to kill (Mohan)
  • Implied malice - intent to cause GBH (Vickers)
• Latimer case - transferred malice
• Thabo Meli case - actus reus and mens rea must coincide
• Williams case - victim's own acts broke the chain of causation
• Cato case applied the de minimis rule
• Theft is a summary offence
• Taylor & Taylor walked free due to media influence on the original trial
• The 3 levels of mens rea are intention, recklessness and negligence
• The mens rea for murder is malice aforethought, express or implied
• Williams and Wallace cases - victim's own acts broke the chain of causation