Unlawful Act Manslaughter

• Unlawful act manslaughter definition

  Common law offence

  Where D causes death of V through an unlawful and dangerous act. Without malice aforethought for murder, only the Mens Rea
• Key element 1

  *An omission is not enough (Lowe)

  *The unlawful act must be a criminal offence (Lamb)
• Key element 2


  Was it objectively dangerous?

  *Would a reasonable person foresee risk of harm - objective test (Goodfellow)

  *Was D aware of Vs fragility/age if only threats were used (Watson)
• Key element 3 


  Did the unlawful and dangerous act cause the death?

  *Factual causation- but for Ds actions

  *Legal causation- Significant contribution, or chain of causation broken

  (Kennedy)
• Key element 4


  Did D have the mens rea for the unlawful act (Newbury & Jones)