CL – Week 7 – Lecture 6 - Involuntary manslaughter
What is involuntary manslaughter?
- An unlawful killing without malice aforethought
- Lies somewhere between murder and accidental death
Involuntary = not lack of voluntariness but lack of intention – cannot be the offence of murder
Gross negligence manslaughter (GNM) = D causes death through criminal negligence - no MR
‘Unlawful act manslaughter’ (UAM) = D commits a criminal offence in objectively dangerous
circumstances, and that offence causes death - no MR
Reckless manslaughter =
AR is the same as murder = an unlawful killing
MR is different and less blameworthy – lack of intention, a lower form of MR
Men's rea – no intention
GNM = negligence, recklessness? Rather than MR
UAM = MR of base offence, not for the unlawful killing
RM = Recklessness
GNM and UAM do NOT have men's rea, do not say they do!
Gross negligence manslaughter
Source of law, Adomako and approving Bateman
4 requirements.
- D owed V a duty of care
o Adomako = apply ordinary negligence principles
o Wacker [2003] - but does not necessarily have to correspond to the law of tort
principles – tort restrictions do not apply
o GNM can be committed by an action or an omission
o Rule = there needs to be a duty of care
o Omission – 5 situations only
o Evans = duty of care is for the courts to decide it is a question of law
o Wacker (2003) - does not have to be correspondent with the law of tort; tort law and
criminal law have different policy objectives: tort restrictions do not apply
- D breached duty of care
o By action or omission
o Ds conduct fell below the standard expected of a reasonable person in the same
circumstances
o Adomako – a reasonable anesthetist
What is involuntary manslaughter?
- An unlawful killing without malice aforethought
- Lies somewhere between murder and accidental death
Involuntary = not lack of voluntariness but lack of intention – cannot be the offence of murder
Gross negligence manslaughter (GNM) = D causes death through criminal negligence - no MR
‘Unlawful act manslaughter’ (UAM) = D commits a criminal offence in objectively dangerous
circumstances, and that offence causes death - no MR
Reckless manslaughter =
AR is the same as murder = an unlawful killing
MR is different and less blameworthy – lack of intention, a lower form of MR
Men's rea – no intention
GNM = negligence, recklessness? Rather than MR
UAM = MR of base offence, not for the unlawful killing
RM = Recklessness
GNM and UAM do NOT have men's rea, do not say they do!
Gross negligence manslaughter
Source of law, Adomako and approving Bateman
4 requirements.
- D owed V a duty of care
o Adomako = apply ordinary negligence principles
o Wacker [2003] - but does not necessarily have to correspond to the law of tort
principles – tort restrictions do not apply
o GNM can be committed by an action or an omission
o Rule = there needs to be a duty of care
o Omission – 5 situations only
o Evans = duty of care is for the courts to decide it is a question of law
o Wacker (2003) - does not have to be correspondent with the law of tort; tort law and
criminal law have different policy objectives: tort restrictions do not apply
- D breached duty of care
o By action or omission
o Ds conduct fell below the standard expected of a reasonable person in the same
circumstances
o Adomako – a reasonable anesthetist
