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Unlawful Act Manslaughter - Coggle Diagram
Unlawful Act Manslaughter
Define
When someone commits an unlawful act which leads to death, but they don't have the mens rea for murder
Also known as constructive manslaughter
Discretionary life
1 - D commits an unlawful act
Lamb
- If someone thinks the gun is unloaded then there is no assault and therefore no unlawful act
Lowe
- an omission is not sufficient
R v Goodfellow
- Arson can be the unlawful act. The act also does not have to be aimed at the victim or any person at all
2 - The act is dangerous on an objective test
Church test
- Would a reasonable person of D's sex and age foresee some harm albeit not serious harm from their act?
R v JM & SM
- It is not necessary for D to see the specific type of harm caused, just that the reasonable person would foresee some harm
Bristow, Dunn and Delay
- Burglary is not usually considered dangerous under the church test however some circumstances can make it qualify
Larkin
- Having a sharp weapon out in open is obviously dangerous. Also shows how act need not be aimed at victim
R v Dawson
- Condition of V was not obvious and so no risk of harm could be foreseen
R v Watson
- Victims frailty was obvious so risk of harm could be foreseen
3 - Which causes death
Factual and legal causation
Cato
- D administered drugs and so there was no break in causation
Dalby
- Victims self injection broke chain of causation
Kennedy
- confirmed decision in Dalby
4 - Mens rea - D had the Mens rea for the unlawful act, not the death
Newbury and Jones
- It is not necessary for D to foresee any harm from their act, only that the reasonable person would know it was dangerous and that they had the mens rea for the unlawful act