Unlawful act manslaughter

• Unlawful Act Manslaughter


  A common law offence where an unlawful, criminal act that is dangerous causes the death of the victim
• Act

  • The killing must result from an act rather than an omission
  • The act must be unlawful in a criminal sense, not just a civil wrong - R v Franklin
  • The act must be dangerous, defined by an objective test laid down in R v Church
  • The unlawful and dangerous act must be the cause of the death
• R v Franklin


  Where the defendant threw a box off a pier, killing a swimmer. At the time, the throwing of the box off the pier was considered a civil offence, rather than a criminal one, so the defendant could not be found guilty of unlawful act manslaughter.
• R v Lamb

  The defendant pointed and fired a revolver, killing the victim. However, since neither the defendant nor the victim believed that the revolver would fire a bullet, there was technically no “assault”. This is because there was no apprehension of violence, which is a necessary part of a criminal assault charge.
• The term dangerous is defined by an objective test laid down in R v Church
• R v Church

  • Here, the court decided that the unlawful act must be such that all sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise…the risk of some harm.
  • Recognition of serious harm is not required for danger to be established.
• Where serious harm is recognised, a Murder charge may be more appropriate, as there is the possibility that the defendant might satisfy the requirement for “malice aforethought implied”, as illustrated in the case of R v Vickers.
•  The unlawful and dangerous act must be the cause of the death.

  • In some cases, it may be possible that the unlawful and dangerous act is merely coincidental to the death. - R v Kennedy
• R v Kennedy


  The defendant supplied the victim with heroin. This is an act which is unlawful and would be considered dangerous. However, since the injection of heroin was what killed the victim, rather than simply being supplied with it, the defendant was found not guilty of unlawful act manslaughter.
• What type of manslaughter is Unlawful act


  Invoulantry, Common law offence.