Homicide: Murder and Manslaughter

Criminal Law and Litigation: Homicide

This recording covers criminal law and litigation from the CPQ advanced stage, focusing on homicide. It is recommended to supplement this with Silex book materials, notes, flashcards, audio recordings, and exercises.

Murder

Murder is a common law offense, meaning it's created through judicial precedent and not by statutory parliament.

Lord Coke's Definition

Murder is defined as 'the unlawful killing of a reasonable person under the Queen's peace with malice of forethought expressed or implied'.

Actus Reus

• The actus reus (guilty act) of murder can be carried out through both an act or an omission.
• The result must be the victim's death. For this, see the case of R v Gibbons and Procter.

Causation

• Proof: The prosecution must prove that the defendant's actions were both the factual and the legal cause of the victim's death, and that there were no intervening acts which broke the chain of causation.
• Factual Causation (But-for test): The defendant can only be held liable if the consequence would not have happened but for their conduct.
  • Evident in Paget.
  • Extended idea seen in White ($1910$).
• De Minimis Principle (More than a slight or trifling link):
  • Initially, actions needed to go beyond merely trivial (de minimis principle).
  • In Kimsey ($1966$), the Court of Appeal stated that instead of de minimis, juries should be directed on the idea of actions being