Murder and Voluntary Manslaughter

Question 1

What is the mens rea of murder?

Answer 1

Malice aforehtought, either express or implied

Question 2

What does express malice mean?

Answer 2

Intention to kill

Question 3

What does implied malice mean?

Answer 3

Intention to cause grievous bodily harm (Smith)

Question 4

Which two cases show that intention to cause GBH is sufficient for murder?

Answer 4

Vickers and Cunningham

Question 5

The actus reus of murder is ‘the unlawful killing of a r______ person in being under the Q______ peace’

Answer 5

Reasonable, Queen’s

Question 6

True or false: the killing can be done through an act or an omission

Answer 6

True

Question 7

When will oblique intention be introduced?

Answer 7

Where there is no clear signs of intention to kill or cause GBH

Question 8

What is first part of the virtual certainty test?

Answer 8

Is the death a virtually certain consequence of D’s actions?

Question 9

Who is D compared to in the second part of the virtual certainty test?

Answer 9

The reasonable person

Question 10

Both f_____ and l_____ causation must be proved for murder

Answer 10

Factual (White, Pagett), legal (Smith, Cheshire)

Question 11

s__(1) - ‘where a person kills or is part to the killing of another, they shall not be convicted of murder if’; D’s a____ or o_____ resulted from a total loss of _____.

Answer 11

54, acts, omissions, control

Question 12

What does the case of Charles tell us about the defence of loss of control?

Answer 12

The deliberate nature of injuries showed control, so there was no defence

Question 13

The rule that a ‘considered desire for revenge’ will provide no defence comes from which case?

Answer 13

Jewell

Question 14

What are the two qualifying triggers for loss of control?

Answer 14

Fear and anger

Question 15

Fear trigger: ‘Fear of v_____ against D or a_____’ (W___)

Answer 15

Violence, another, (Ward)

Question 16

The anger trigger is ‘a thing said or done which’?

Answer 16

Constitutes circumstances of extremely grave character and causes D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged

Question 17

‘Sexual infidelity is to be d______ unless it provides the c____ in which another t_____ operates’ (C____)

Answer 17

Disregarded, context, trigger, (Clinton)

Question 18

Give an example of a control characteristic which cannot be considered in loss of control

Answer 18

PTSD (Rejmanski), alcoholism, depression (McGrory)

Question 19

What is the normal person’s test for loss of control? (s54(1)(c))

Answer 19

Would a person of D’s sex and age with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint have acted in the same or similar way?

Question 20

Circumstances which relate solely to D’s t______ and s___-r_______ will not be considered unless they are the target of the provocation.

Answer 20

Tolerance, self-restraint

Question 21

Name the 1st key ingredient in diminished responsibility

Answer 21

The abnormality of mental functioning must arise from a recognised medical condition

Question 22

An abnormality of mental functioning is described in B____ as ‘a s___ of mental functioning so different from that of o____ human beings that the r_____ m__ would term it a_____’

Answer 22

Byrne, state, ordinary, reasonable man, abnormal

Question 23

What was the recognised medical condition in the case of Campbell?

Answer 23

Epilepsy

Question 24

The abnormality of mental functioning must substantially impair D’s ability to do what? (3 answers)

Answer 24

Understand the nature of their conduct, form rational judgement, exercise self-control

Question 25

The abnormality of mental functioning must provide an e_____ for the k_____

Answer 25

Explanation, killing

Question 26

How is the term ‘substantial’ defined?

Answer 26

Less than total, but more than trivial

Question 27

The abnormality of mental functioning must c____ or be a significant c_______ factor in causing D to carry out his conduct

Answer 27

Cause, contributory

Question 28

Which case states that intoxication alone cannot found diminished responsibility?

Answer 28

Dowds

Question 29

What does the case of Dietschmann tell us about suffering from both a recognised medical condition and involuntary intoxication?

Answer 29

The intoxication should be disregarded, and it must be decided whether the condition alone would have impaired his responsibility

Question 30

Had D lost his ability to maintain his actions is accordance with c_____ j______… or has he lost normal p_____ of r______? (Jewell)

Answer 30

Considered judgement, powers of reasoning