D's conduct has to be voluntary for them to be criminally liable
Bratty v Attorney
General for
Northern Ireland
An involuntary act is; "An act
which is done by the muscles
without any control by the
mind"
Eg: Sleep walking, Reflex reaction and Epilepsy
Hill v Baxter
1. Attacked by a swarm of bees
2. Brick to head, hands will go instinctively to injury
3. Heart attack, Grabbing your chest.
AR must be proven
D has to bring
about the AR to be liable
R v Deller
No AR because hire
agreement was
already void.
Omission
Means a
failure to
act
The general rule is, no
liability for failure to act - R
v Miller
Exception; A person is only
liable for an omission if they
have a duty to act through CL or statute and fail to
do so
There are five duty situation
Contractual
R v Pittwood
1902
D worked for the railway. A
man was killed on the railway
line. Guilty of manslaughter.
He failed (omitted) to shut the
gate
Special
Relationship
R v Gibbons
and Proctor
1918
A father and his
partner caused the
death of his child.
Failure to feed
R v Smith -
parent liable,
spouse not so
clear - respect
for autonomy.
Gibbins and
Proctor,
Sheppard,
chattaway, Hood
(Kenneth).
Voluntarily
assuming
responsibility
R v Stone
and
Dobinson
1977
D and his
girlfriend took
responsibility to
care for his
elderly sister. The
sister died of
neglect.
Instan,
Proctor,
Sinclair,
Ruffell
Public office
R v Dytham
A police officer
watched a fight and
a man died. Failed
to help a citizen.
Failure to keep the
Queens peace.
Creating a dangerous situation
R v Miller - A man dropped a lit cigarette
and started a fire. A house
burned down. Failed to try
and put out the fire or phone
99
R v Evans - gemma
convicted because created
dangerous situation. Had
duty because of that
A02
For liability - still
blameworthy, social
responsiblity. Against -
omissions are less
culpable. how do we
attribute responsbility?
Possible reform - Good
Samaritan/duty of easy rescue.
Issues - how fair is too far? Should
we be endangered when saving
another. What happens if rescuer
becomes injured. Dont want to put
rescuers off in light of possible
charges etc, what if in capable of
helping? Still charged?
Problems with omissions -
line where duty actually
exists is unclear. Self
determination - patient in
medical duty and in
situation like Hood.
State of
affairs
Also known
as
circumstance
crimes
D is guilty just
because of the
situation they are in.
There is no voluntary
act.
R v Larsonneur
D got a visa to go to England, her visa ran out so she flew to Ireland was deported and sent to England were she was arrested
Guilty of being an Alien, didn't matter that she was not there voluntarily
Winzar v
Chief
Constable of
Kent
Windsor was drunk. Went into A and E.
Irrelevant how he ended up on the road.