Unlawful Act Manslaughter

• elements of UAM:

  1. D commits an unlawful act
  2. D has the mens rea of that unlawful act
  3. That act caused the death
  4. The Unlawful Act is objectively dangerous
• R v Stone and Dobinson [1977]


  Failing to act is not enough for UAM: there must be a voluntary act.
• R v Franklin [1883]


  A tort is not enough for UAM: the unlawful act must be a crime.
• R v Lamb [1967]


  All elements of the crime (actus reus and mens rea) must be present.
• Examples of unlawful acts:

  • Assault
  • Battery
  • ABH
  • Dangerous driving
• DPP v Newbury and Jones [1976]


  D only needs the mens rea of the unlawful act; they do not need to intend or foresee the risk of death or see the risk of any harm.
• R v Mitchell [1983]


  Transferred malice could apply.
• R v Dear [1996]


  Self-neglect is not an intervening act of the victim therefore the chain is not broken and D is guilty.
• R v Cato [1976]


  D injected V. Consent isn't a defence to manslaughter so there is no break in the chain of causation. D convicted.
• R v Kennedy (No 2) [2007]


  V, an informed consenting adult, injected himself so the chain of causation is broken. D acquitted.
• R v Church [1966]


  An act is dangerous if a sober and reasonable person could see it carried a risk of some physical harm.
• R v Dawson [1985]


  The sober and reasonable person would not know of V's condition and therefore would not consider it dangerous.
• R v Watson [1989]


  The sober and reasonable person would see V's age and fragility and therefore D’s act was objectively dangerous.
• R v JM and SM [2013]


  The sober and reasonable person doesn't need to foresee the specific injury that leads to death, only that some physical harm could happen.
• R v Goodfellow [1986]


  An unlawful act can be aimed at property rather than the V as long as the reasonable person could see a risk of some physical harm arising from it.
• R v Farnon and Ellis [2014]


  The question of dangerousness is objective. D is compared to the sober and reasonable person even if he is not.
• Defined in common law as an unlawful act that causes death.