Unlawful Act Manslaughter
Introduction
Unlawful act manslaughter is often referred to as ‘constructive manslaughter’ as the
law constructs liability on the lesser crime that the defendant committed.
These lesser crimes can encompass a range of activity, from mere accidents to
incidents just short of murder.
This creates such a wide range of culpability, suggesting that the law in this area is
unjust.
Moreover, there is a lack of set statute to offer definitions or legal principles. This
means that the law has developed haphazardly and has led to uncertainty over what
actually constitutes unlawful act manslaughter.
From this, it is clear that the law in this area is in dire need of reform.
What Makes an Act Unlawful?
Criminal not Civil
The requirement of an unlawful act has not always been in place, once being
sufficient to only commit a civil wrong, as demonstrated by Fenton.
This seemingly made the scope of the law too broad, as a civil act had the ability to
create criminal liability.
For this reason, the narrowing of the law in this respect can be regarded as a
welcome adjustment.
Defendants are now only culpable if their conduct is criminal, which seems righteous
in the context of cases like Franklin, where a defendant was not liable for the death
of a swimmer after he threw a crate off a pier.
Deciding Whether an Act is Unlawful
However, determining whether an act in itself is unlawful can be challenging, and this
can lead to inconsistency between judgements.
This is reflected by Lord Atkin’s speech in Andrews, where it was suggested that
there would not necessarily be a manslaughter verdict where poor driving led to
death because poor performance of a lawful act is not unlawful.
As the law is not supplemented by a strong foundation of statute law, there is room
for an inconsistent application of law when addressing contentious issues like the
one described.
As a result, it can be argued that the law needs to be clarified on its position in such
instances to improve the fairness of the law.
Base Unlawful Act
Who the Unlawful Act is Directed At
It is irrelevant whether a base unlawful act is directed at the victim.
Introduction
Unlawful act manslaughter is often referred to as ‘constructive manslaughter’ as the
law constructs liability on the lesser crime that the defendant committed.
These lesser crimes can encompass a range of activity, from mere accidents to
incidents just short of murder.
This creates such a wide range of culpability, suggesting that the law in this area is
unjust.
Moreover, there is a lack of set statute to offer definitions or legal principles. This
means that the law has developed haphazardly and has led to uncertainty over what
actually constitutes unlawful act manslaughter.
From this, it is clear that the law in this area is in dire need of reform.
What Makes an Act Unlawful?
Criminal not Civil
The requirement of an unlawful act has not always been in place, once being
sufficient to only commit a civil wrong, as demonstrated by Fenton.
This seemingly made the scope of the law too broad, as a civil act had the ability to
create criminal liability.
For this reason, the narrowing of the law in this respect can be regarded as a
welcome adjustment.
Defendants are now only culpable if their conduct is criminal, which seems righteous
in the context of cases like Franklin, where a defendant was not liable for the death
of a swimmer after he threw a crate off a pier.
Deciding Whether an Act is Unlawful
However, determining whether an act in itself is unlawful can be challenging, and this
can lead to inconsistency between judgements.
This is reflected by Lord Atkin’s speech in Andrews, where it was suggested that
there would not necessarily be a manslaughter verdict where poor driving led to
death because poor performance of a lawful act is not unlawful.
As the law is not supplemented by a strong foundation of statute law, there is room
for an inconsistent application of law when addressing contentious issues like the
one described.
As a result, it can be argued that the law needs to be clarified on its position in such
instances to improve the fairness of the law.
Base Unlawful Act
Who the Unlawful Act is Directed At
It is irrelevant whether a base unlawful act is directed at the victim.
