Murder and manslaughter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Murder and manslaughter - Essay Example or in the event that the offender causes death in the process of carrying out an illegal act.2 According to Sir Edward Coke, murder is applied where a person of sound memory and age unlawfully kills in any country another human being under King’s peace with malice, which is premeditated as expressed by the party or implied by the law such that the wounded person dies within an year and a day out of the same. 3 To conclude that the person should be held under actus reus, there first of all has to be unlawful killing and the act of the offender must have been the established cause of death of the victim.4 The killing must be of another human being and under queen’s peace which means stipulates that killing of an enemy in war is not murder. However, the death after an year and day was removed in the law reform act of 1996.5 Under this, there is the malice afterthought. In R v Moloney (1985), the House of Lords concluded that nothing less than the intention to kill or cause bodily harm would be seen as malice afterthought. Just foreseeing the death of a victim as probable was not sufficient. There are two things to be considered under Mens Rea, first the intention to kill where murder is identified as a crime of specific intent.6 The intent in this case could be direct or oblique. In direct intent, the offender desired the death. In oblique, the death is foreseen by the offender as virtually certain, however, not desired for its own sake. Secondly, the intention to cause grievous bodily harm which was accepted under as sufficient mens rea for murder since if the offender was willing to inflict serious body harm, then he had no way of knowing certainly knowing the victim will not die. Intentional body harm is evidence that a victim could die. 7 In the case of Anthony the political activist who set up bombs in order to get attention for what he was lobbying against, genetically modified crops, a couple of considerations can be identified in this case. First, in