Murder
a. Definition
- An act or omission which causes the death of a human being under the Queen’s Peace, the
act or omission having been done with the intention to cause death or grievous bodily harm
to some [any] human being
- Actus Reus: An act or omission which causes the death of a human being
- Mens Rea: With the intention to cause death or GBH
- Definition comes from common law
- Mandatory life sentence
b. Actus Reus – An Act or an Omission
- Does not need to be an unlawful act
- D is liable for omission when D has duty to act (eg. parental, voluntary, creation of dangerous
situation) by neglecting duty, D intends to cause death or GBH
R v Matthews and Alleyne (creation of dangerous situation)
Two defendants robbed V
To intimidate V, they threatened to throw him into a river
V said that he could not swim but they threw him in
If D genuinely thought that V could swim, one might argue that they did not have the mens
rea
However, they saw V flailing in the water and realised that he could not swim they had
created a dangerous situation + was aware of it had duty to act
Could have been a murder conviction based on omission
bi. Bland
Airedale NHS Trust v Bland
V in persistent vegetative state
Doctors and family decided to pull life support; question of whether this would constitute
murder, given that the intention here was to cause death
Held that it would be lawful for the doctors to withdraw the feeding tube if patient has no
prospect of recovery
Based on 3 propositions
o Removing the feeding tube would be an omission, not an act
Given that the doctors had supplied food and water to him when he was
brought to them and dying, the doctors had changed the baseline state, and
when they removed the feeding tube, they were returning Bland to his
baseline state
Doctors had continually expended effort to keep V alive; when they
withdrew life support, they ceased such effort constituted omission
a. Definition
- An act or omission which causes the death of a human being under the Queen’s Peace, the
act or omission having been done with the intention to cause death or grievous bodily harm
to some [any] human being
- Actus Reus: An act or omission which causes the death of a human being
- Mens Rea: With the intention to cause death or GBH
- Definition comes from common law
- Mandatory life sentence
b. Actus Reus – An Act or an Omission
- Does not need to be an unlawful act
- D is liable for omission when D has duty to act (eg. parental, voluntary, creation of dangerous
situation) by neglecting duty, D intends to cause death or GBH
R v Matthews and Alleyne (creation of dangerous situation)
Two defendants robbed V
To intimidate V, they threatened to throw him into a river
V said that he could not swim but they threw him in
If D genuinely thought that V could swim, one might argue that they did not have the mens
rea
However, they saw V flailing in the water and realised that he could not swim they had
created a dangerous situation + was aware of it had duty to act
Could have been a murder conviction based on omission
bi. Bland
Airedale NHS Trust v Bland
V in persistent vegetative state
Doctors and family decided to pull life support; question of whether this would constitute
murder, given that the intention here was to cause death
Held that it would be lawful for the doctors to withdraw the feeding tube if patient has no
prospect of recovery
Based on 3 propositions
o Removing the feeding tube would be an omission, not an act
Given that the doctors had supplied food and water to him when he was
brought to them and dying, the doctors had changed the baseline state, and
when they removed the feeding tube, they were returning Bland to his
baseline state
Doctors had continually expended effort to keep V alive; when they
withdrew life support, they ceased such effort constituted omission
