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12 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Actus Reus |
Latin Term Guilty Action |
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All Acts Must Be Voluntary |
Hill V Baxter |
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Omission |
The General Rule In English Law Is That There Is No Liability For A Failure To Act. There Are Exceptions. |
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A Duty Arising From Contract |
When A Person Is Under Contract, His Failure Can Be A Criminal Offence. R V Pittwood (1902) |
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A Duty Voluntarily Undertaken |
A duty of care may also exist where there the defendant has voluntarily taken responsibility for the wellbeing of a person. R V Stone And Dobinson (1977) CA |
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Starting A Chain Of Events ( Or Failure To Minimise Harmful Consequences Of His Act) |
Where a person causes accidental damage,he is under a duty to take reasonable steps to limit the spread of the damage. R V Miller (1983) |
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A Duty To The Public |
A policeman has a duty of care as the holder of a public office. His duty is to the general public. R V Dytham (1979) CA |
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A Duty Arising From A Statute |
Liability will arise where a statute has imposed a duty to take positive action. Children And Young Person's Act 1933 |
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The Chain Of Causation |
In result crimes such as murder it is necessary to show that the unlawful act of the accused actually cause the harm to the victim. The law operates a two-stage test. |
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The Factual Cause |
This uses the "But For" test. In this first test the court will consider whether the harm would have happened "But For" the unlawful action of the accused. R V White (1910) KB R V Pagett (1983) CA |
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The Legal Cause |
Once it has been established that the accused is the factual cause of the harm suffered by the victim, it has to be shown that he is also the legal cause. The court asks whether the defendants's act continues to make a significant contribution to the end result. R V Smith (1959) CMCA |
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However, The Chain Of Causation may be broken, either by the victim or by some unforeseeable event. |
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