Cases Flashcards
(38 cards)
R v Miller
M fell asleep with a cigarette. When he woke up he realised that the cigarette had started a fire, but he simply moved to another room
Held -
M owed a duty of care due to his act
Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commisioner
F accidentally drove his car onto a police officers foot. When he realised, he refused to remove the car
Held - the external act was ongoing when F realised and didn’t move, therefore the external and fault elements coincided
R v Church
D attacked a woman intending to cause GBH. V became unconscious and D thought she had died, so threw her body into a lake. V died from drowning
Held -
This was a whole series of events, so the external and fault elements coincided
R v Pittwood
D had a contractual job to open and close level crossing gates at trains. He failed to close the gates and the victim was killed
Held - d had a duty towards, not just his contracting party, but to any third party that might be affected by his omission
R v Gibbons and Proctor
Both Ds had 15 children to look after between them. The victim was bullied by the other children and eventually died of starvation
Held - d failed to properly look after the child, to whom they had a special relationship
R v Stone and Dobinson
S and D were partners. The victim was s’s young sister who was anorexic and ill. The v was found dead
Manslaughter
Held - they had taken responsibility for the victim was so were guilty
Larsonneur
D had a French passport and did not have permission to stay in the UK
She went to Ireland, where she was physically on a ferry to Wales by the police officers
Aliens Order 1920 ‘being an alien to whom leave to land in the UK has been refused, was found in the UK’
Held - the statute is clearly worded that this is a status offence
D liable
Winzar v Chief Constable of Kent
D was removed from a hospital for being drunk and put on the highway by the police
Another group of police found him and charged him with
Licensing Act 1872 for being drunk in a public place or highway
Held - the fact that he was put there by the police was not relevant
Status offence
AG Reference (no 3 of 1994)
The defendant stabbed his pregnant girlfriend several times. She recovered but had a premature birth and the baby died after 120 days.
Held - the d could not be guilty of murder
The d did not intend to kill the baby
Transferred malice cannot be transferred twice - from the mother to the foetus, from the foetus to the baby
Could be guilty of manslaughter
Cunningham (1982)
Fault element for murder; subjective recklessness test
Facts - C attacked a man he thought was involved with his mistress and the man died.
C argued that he did not intend to kill the man, although he intended to cause serious harm
Held -
Fault element for murder - the fault element of murder is wider than simple intention to kill (express malice), also includes implied malice (intention to cause GBH)
Subjective recklessness - foresight of risk of particular harm
R v White
Factual causation, but for test
Facts - W intended to kill his mother. He poisoned her tea, but not enough to kill her. She ended up dying from natural causes unrelated to the poison.
Held - could not be guilty of murder because there was no factual causation.
But for test - would the victim have died but for the defendants conduct?
If yes, then the defendant did not cause the death
Smith (1959)
Legal causation
Facts - S was a member if the army serving in Germany. S stabbed the deceased. A friend of the victim carried him to the first aid post, but dropping him several times. At the first aid post, v was left waiting for several hours due to lack of staff.
Held - S was guilty of murder
If at the time of death the original wound was an operating and substantial cause of the death
Only if the second acts were so overwhelming as to make the original wound “merely a part of the history” can it be said that the death doesn’t flow from the wound
Substantial - significant cause, Pagett
Operating - no novus actus interveniens
Pagett
Facts - D used his girlfriend as a shield and shot at the police. When they shot back, his girlfriend was killed.
Held - convicted of manslaughter
The defendants act doesn’t need to be the sole cause of the death. Only need to show that the defendants actions “contributed significantly to that result”
Hayward
Facts - H threatened his wife with violence and she ran out of the house in a panic. She dropped dead from a previously unknown medical condition that could be aggravated by stress.
Held - convicted of manslaughter
H could not rely on the medical condition to avoid the conviction of manslaughter.
Blaue
Facts - D stabbed the victim, puncturing her lung. She was taken to the hospital but refused a blood transfusion for religious reasons. She died
Held - convicted of manslaughter upheld
Thin skull rule applied to psychological traits of the victim, including beliefs
Roberts
Facts - D was giving the v a ride home and attempted to take off her coat.she jumped out of the car and injured herself.
Held - convicted of assault occasioning ABH upheld
Only if the victims actions were “so daft” as to be unforeseeable would it constitute a novus actus interviniens
Cheshire
Facts - D shot the victim in the leg and had surgery. The victim suffered complications from the surgery, which the hospital failed to recognise, leading to their death
Held - conviction upheld
It is accepted that the original wound was no longer the immediate cause of the death. However, the need for the surgery flowed from the defendants original act and thus he remained liable
Mohan
Direct intention given it’s everyday meaning
R v Woolin (1998)
Facts - w lost his temper with his 3 year old sin and threw him across the room. The boy died
Convicted if murder
Held - appeal for change to manslaughter allowed
Oblique intention test
1) death or serious harm was a virtual certainty barring some unforeseen intervention
2) the defendant appreciated that this was the case
Virtual certainty is a very high standard
R and G
Facts - two kids aged 11/12 set fire to some newspapers in a garbage bin next to a supermarket. This caused the supermarket to burn and caused £1m in damage
Charged with criminal damage
Held -
applying Cunningham subjective recklessness test - the children did not have foresight of the risk of the damage
Adomako (1995)
Facts - A was an anesthesiologist during an eye surgery. He failed to notice that the ventilator had become disconnected for 6 minutes. The patient died.
Gross negligence manslaughter
Held -
The test for gross negligence manslaughter
1) D owes a duty of care
2) Breach of that duty
3) Breach is so serious that, in the opinion of the jury, amounts to a crime
Latimer
Facts - L tried to hit a man with his belt but instead hit a bystander woman
Held - conviction of assault and battery upheld
Transferred malice - can be transferred from one victim to another of the same crime
Pembliton
Facts - D attempted to throw an object at a man but instead it broke a window
Held - cannot transfer malice from one crime to another (criminal damage)
Dawes
Held - qualifying trigger was not available where the defendant had deliberately sought to provide himself an excuse by inciting/encouraging the victim
