MURDER

• Murder is defined by Lord Coke (1797) as the unlawful killing of a reasonable person in being under the king's peace with malice aforethought and express or implied intention
• An unlawful killing is that you cannot consent to your own death or GBH, under the case of R v Brown
• A reasonable person in being cannot be a foetus (A-G ref.) or braindead (Malchereck v Steel)
• Under the king's peace means there is no ongoing war at the time of the killing.
• Causation must be proven in fact and law for murder, R v White and Kimsey apply the tests.
• Malice is defined as the defendant having a desire to harm.
• Aforethought means that the defendant must have thought about the act before committing it.
• Express intention is where the defendant intended to kill (Mohan).
• Implied intention is where there was intention to cause GBH/
• Foresight of consequences, under Vickers, is if the death was a virtual certainty to the reasonable person.
• The sentence for murder is a mandatory life imprisonment,