#19818 - Aqa Criminal Law - AQA A-Level Law (with Contract Law)

Criminal law overview

Topics:

• General elements of criminal liability

• Murder

• Voluntary manslaughter

  • Loss of control

  • Diminished responsibility

• Involuntary manslaughter

  • Unlawful act

  • Gross negligence

• Non-fatal offences

• Theft

• Robbery

• Preliminary offences

• Capacity defences

  • Insanity

  • Automatism

  • Intoxication

• General defences

  • Self-defence

  • Duress (threat, circumstances and necessity)

General elements of criminal liability

Omissions

Failure to act.

Types:

• Statutory duties (Road Traffic Act 1988)

• Voluntary duties (R v Evans)

• Special relationship/familial duties (R v Gibbins and Proctor)

• Contractual duties (R v Pittwood)

• Dangerous situation duties (R v Miller)

• Public duties (R v Dytham)

Causation

Factual

• But for test - R v White / R v Pagett

Legal

Whether there is a chain of causation:

• Operating and substantial cause (R v Smith), there must be de minimis (R v Kimsey)

• Intervening act:

  • Victim's own act (R v Roberts)

  • Medical intervention (‘palpably wrong’) (R v Cheshire / R v Jordan)

  • Third party act (R v Pagett)

• Thin skull rule (R v Blaue)

Recklessness

For basic intent offences, eg assault/battery.

Where action is an unjustified risk that D would have known/a reasonable person would have known (Cunningham).

Intention

Direct intent

Where the consequence is D's main aim and purpose (Mohan). This is not the same as motive.

Indirect/Oblique intent

Where the consequence is a virtual certainty seen by D (Woollin).

Contemporaneity rule

AR and MR must coincide in a series of acts (Thabo Meli / Church) or a continuing act (Fagan).

Strict liability

Where MR is not required (eg PSGB v Storkwain).

Transferred malice

Where the intended and actual crimes are the same, but the intended victim and actual victim are different (Latimer / Gnango / Pembliton).

Murder

AR

The unlawful killing of a human being under the King's peace.

Human being = can live independently. Therefore raises questions over foetuses.

Cannot be an omission.

MR

• Intention to kill (direct (Mohan) or indirect (Woollin))

• Implied malice (intention to cause GBH) (Vickers)

Causation

Factual - but for (White, Pagett)

Legal - chain of causation

• operating and substantial cause (Smith).

• Intervening act - breaks chain - medical (Jordan, Cheshire), victim's act (Roberts), third party act (Pagett).

• Thin skull rule - leave victim as found (Blaue)

Voluntary Manslaughter

Loss of control

S54 Coroners and Justice Act 2009

S54(1) states LoC is:

• D's acts causing the killing of a recognised person as a result of the LoC.

• LoC has a qualifying trigger.

• person of D's same sex/age/tolerance/self-restraint in all circumstances may have reacted similarly (objective test).

Loss of control rules:

S54(2) no need to be sudden, can be a slow burn process (Ahluwalia).

S54(4) no considered desire for revenge.

Qualifying triggers:

S55(3) - fear trigger

• for serious violence - the fear need not be reasonable, and can be for another person (Ward).

S55(4) - anger trigger

• for circumstances of an extremely grave character which causes D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged.

S55(6)

• the qualifying trigger cannot be used as an excuse for violence.

• sexual infidelity is not a standalone factor (Clinton).

Objective test: jury must decide this (Asmelash).

Burden of proof (the prosecution must disprove the defence beyond all reasonable doubt).

Diminished responsibility

S52 Coroners and Justice Act 2009

S52(1) D is suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning which:

• arose from a recognised medical condition.

• substantially impaired D's ability to (s1A): understand the conduct/be rational/exercise self-control.

• provides an explanation for D's acts causing the killing (significant contributory factor - s1B).

Medical conditions:

• depressive illness/paranoia (Martin).

• epilepsy (Campbell).

• long-term alcoholism (Tandy).

• Battered Woman's Syndrome (Ahluwalia).

• ADHD can be a factor if significant (Osbourne).

Substantial impairment:

• substantial means 'distinctly more than just past the trivial' / more than trivial/small (Golds).

• impairment means D has difficulty in controlling impulses greater than normal (Byrne).

Significant contributory factor:

• the abnormality must be a substantial cause, need not be the sole cause (Dietschmann).

Burden of proof: the defence must prove the defence on a balance of probabilities.

Involuntary Manslaughter

Unlawful act manslaughter

Definition

• killing by doing an act that is both unlawful and dangerous.

AR

Unlawful

• a crime/illegal (Franklin / Lamb).

• an act, not an omission (Lowe).

Dangerous

• dangerous if all sober and reasonable people would recognise the risk of some harm (Church).

• no need to foresee a specific type of harm (Newberry / JM&SM).

Causation

• factual

• but for (Pagett / White).

• legal

• Chain of causation - D's act is an operating and substantial cause (Smith / Kennedy), must be de minimis (Shohid).

• Intervening acts

• Medical treatment (Jordan)

• Act of third party (Pagett)

• Act of victim (Williams / Roberts)

• Thin skull rule (Blaue).

MR

• the MR of the offence that caused the death (Lamb).

Gross negligence manslaughter

Give the definition of gross negligence manslaughter – 'serious carelessness' - Adomako

AR

• Duty of Care

  • Statutory (Road Traffic Act 1988)

  • Special relationship (Gibbins and Proctor)

  • Voluntary (Evans)

  • Public (Dytham)

  • Contractual (Pittwood)

  • Dangerous situation (Miller)

• Breach of duty

  • Reasonable test - would a reasonable man have done what D did? Must be an obvious risk of death (Misra).

MR

Shows 'such disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime' (Lord Hewart CJ).

Causation

1. Factual causation - 'but for' (White)

2. Legal causation

3. operating and substantial cause (Kennedy)

4. more than minimal cause (Shohid)

5. NAIs - victim's acts (Roberts), medical intervention (Cheshire), third party's acts (Pagett)

6. thin skull rule (Blaue).

To note: jury must decide whether there gross negligence (Litchfield).

Non-fatal offences

Battery/Assault

s39 Criminal Justice Act 1988.

Assault

AR - an act that causes apprehension of immediate unlawful force.

• cannot be an omission, can be words (Constanza) or actions or silence (Ireland).

• words can negate an assault also (Tuberville v Savage).

• Immediate means imminent (Smith v CS Woking Police Station).

MR

• intention or recklessness to cause V to apprehend immediate unlawful force (Logdon).

Battery

AR - an application of unlawful force.

• everyday activities/necessities cannot be force (exigencies) (Collins v Wilcock) but force can be the slightest touch (Faulkner v Talbot). Omissions cannot be force (Fagan).

• direct - on the person/clothes (Thomas) or indirect - not so personally (DPP v Khan).

MR

• intention or recklessness to apply the force (Mohan).

Actual bodily harm

s47 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

AR

• Actual - not so trivial as to be insignificant / more than trivial (Chan-Fook). Examples: fainting/temporary unconsciousness (T v DPP); damage without pain (DPP v Smith); psychiatric injury (Constanza / Ireland); minor cuts/bruising.

• A s39 offence causes ABH.

MR

• intention or recklessness for the s39 offence. Roberts / Savage - doesn't need to be for ABH.

Inflicting grievous bodily harm

s20 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

AR - inflicting a wound/GBH.

• Wound/GBH: Serious harm (Saunders). Examples: breaking skin (Eisenhower); psychiatric harm (Burstow); broken bones/dislocations/lengthy injuries/permanent disabilities; biological harm (Dica); collection of injuries (Brown).

• Can inflict directly, indirectly (Martin), or with no force (Burstow).

MR

• intention or recklessness to inflict some injury (Mowatt) maliciously (Cunningham).

Causing grievous bodily harm with intent

s18 Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

AR - the same rules as s20 but 'causing' instead of 'inflicting.'

MR - specific intention to cause serious injury/GBH. Can be rare to prove (Belfon / Taylor).

Sentences

s39 - max 6 months imprisonment / fine.

s 47 and s20 - max 5 years imprisonment.

s 18 - life imprisonment.

Theft

Definition: s1 Theft Act 1968. Dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

AR

S3 - Appropriation.

• when an interference with someone's rights (R v Morris, Anderton and Burnside)

S4 - Property.

• real property, things in action and intangible goods (trade marks), physical things.

• cannot be: knowledge (Oxford v Moss); wild creatures and nature; corpses.

S5 - Belonging to another.

• when defendant takes it, it doesn't need to be total proprietary interest (the defendant could take possession or control of the item, but not ownership) (R v Turner (No 2)).

MR

S2 - Dishonesty.

• Statute law: under s2(1) Theft Act 1968 defendant is honest if:

  • defendant has a legal right to deprive.

  • the owner would have consented.

  • reasonable steps were taken to discover the owner.

• Common law: Ivey v Genting - overruled Ghosh Test, now:

  • (1) ascertain actual state of defendant’s knowledge/belief of facts (subjective);

  • (2) determine whether conduct was honest by standard of ordinary, decent people (objective).

  • Barton and Booth supports Ivey v Genting.

S6 - Intention to permanently deprive.

• Lavender - treating property as one's own regardless of the other's rights.

• Lloyd - when all 'goodness and virtue' is gone from the property.

Robbery

S8 Theft Act 1968.

AR

• must be a theft (Zerei)

• s3 appropriation

• s4 property

• s5 belonging to another

• must have use of force (Hale) or threat of using force (B and R v DPP).

• timing: for sole purpose of robbery and immediately before/during (Hale).

MR

• must be a theft

• ...