Involuntary manslaughter

• Unlawful act 


  The unlawful act must be criminal, not civil. This was seen in the case of Franklin.
• Unlawful act 


  There must be an unlawful act - in the case of lamb there was no unlawful act as the friend was not scared and so there was no assault
• Unlawful act 


  An omission cannot be the basis for unlawful act manslaughter, seen in the case of Lowe. In these circumstances the appropriate charge will be for gross negligence manslaughter.
• unlawful act 


  Other examples of unlawful acts would be:

  • Arson- seen in Goodfellow
  • Criminal damage - seen in Newbury and jones
  • Burglary - seen in Watson
• 2. Dangerous 


  The unlawful act must be dangerous on an objective basis. this was established in the case of church which stated that the test was “ such that sober and reasonable people would inevitably recognise must subject the other person to, at least, the risk of some harm albeit not serious harm”
• 2. Dangerous 


  The defendant can be convicted, even if they were not aware of the risk of any harm occurring

  E.g. R v Larkin where holding out of an open Razor blade would be objectively dangerous. (this case also shows us that the unlawful act does not need to be aimed at the victim).
• 2. Dangerous 


  Some harm

  It is not necessary for the sober and reasonable person to foresee the particular type of harm that the victim suffers. It is enough that the reasonable person would foresee some harm.
• Dangerous


  Act against property - R v Goodfellow

  The unlawful act doesn’t have to be aimed at a person, it can be aimed at property. So long as the act was objectively dangerous.
• Dangerous


  R v Watson:

  Where a sober and reasonable person would be aware of the victims frailty and the risk of physical harm to him/her then the defendant will be liable

  Dawson:

  Could be dangerous in that it became dangerous as soon as the old man’s condition would have been apparent to the sober and reasonable person as a elderly could’ve suffered some harm from a confrontation
• 3. Causes the death.

  Normal rules of causation apply here

  Factual cause – but for test e.g. padgett

  Iegal cause - intervening act
• Causes the death

  R v Kennedy

  The House of Lords ruled that there was no unlawful act as a victim self injected. The act of self injection was involuntary intervening act which broke the chain of causation.

  Victim’s own act - thin skull rule
• 4. Mens Rea


  It must be proved that the defendant had the men’s role for the unlawful act, but not for death. This was seen in R v Newbury and Jones; the boys did not need to foresee any harm from their act
• unlawful act manslaughter is a type of involuntary manslaughter, along with gross negligence manslaughter
• ‘Unlawful act’

  Lamb; there must be an unlawful act
• Unlawful act

  Lowe; omission not enough - must be an act
• Unlawful act

  Larkin; unlawful act must not be aimed at the v
• Unlawful act

  Franklin; must be a criminal wrong, not a civil wrong
• Dangerous

  Church; established the test for dangerousness
• Dangerous

  Goodfellow; unlawful act can be aimed ar property, but needs to be objectively dangerous
• Dangerous

  Dawson; a super and reasonable person would not have foreseen the risk of harm
• Dangerous

  Watson; v’s frailty was obvious to the reasonable person
• Cause

  Kennedy; self-injection broke the chain of causation
• Mens Rea

  Newbury and Jones; d only needs the mr for the unlawful act