The Automatism Defence in Law

This assignment delves into the legal concept of automatism as a defence against criminal liability. It examines the historical development and criteria for establishing automatism, differentiating it from insanity. The assignment explores various types of automatism, including sleepwalking and diabetic hypoglycaemia, and discusses their relevance in legal cases. It also analyses prominent case studies illustrating the application and challenges of the automatism defence.

Assignment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
The defence of insanity and impacts on his duties.................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................5
Defence of automatism and influence on the responsibilities of Alf.....................................5
PART 3............................................................................................................................................7
Impact of defence of automatism if Alf has charged with murder.........................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
A human killing with out having an intention to kill by a person can be a manslaughter 1.
Most of the criminals use this term to save them from the serious offence and it supports to
criminal acts in the society; so it is essential for the court and judiciary to make differentiation in
such types of acts . Criminal laws are drafted by the government, to make a crime free
environment and it has to passed by the parliament. This project is having focus on a case study
in which Alf is a person having a serious blood disorder is rarely found in the humans which put
him in a blackout for a time being. Now, he has been charged for the manslaughter of his
girlfriend in the unconsciousness situation. This assignment is having discussion on the defence
of insanity, automatism and it's impacts on the Alf in the manslaughter charge on them.
PART 1
The defence of insanity and impacts on his duties
Insanity is a mental condition of a person in which they do not know what are they doing;
it is a type of mental illness in which a person loose their control on their acts. it is been used by
some of the people for the wrong thing they use it to defence themselves form the fraud act, it is
a term which is used by some of the people which has charged for a law breaking and to defend
themselves by the penalties made by court and judiciary. And this is been advised by some of
the low advisor to the people so that they can save their clients. According to the English
Criminal Law person who has made a serious crime with a proper intention to hurt another
human could not adoptable by the judiciary2. .
1 Card R. Card, Cross, and Jones-Criminal Law. Oxford University Press, USA; 2014 Jul
31.
2 Ormerod D. The Law Commission’s proposals for the reform of the defences of insanity
and automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul;55(3):156-61.

A person who has made a serious crime but wants to defend themselves for their criminal
acts which is done by them with an proper intension to make a physical hurt to others but at the
same time he or she will not feel guilty for their act by the reason of insanity. Most of the time a
person who had done such act has been treated as a guilty of the person but they are not
sentenced by the judiciary for the full punishment for their acts, the court gives them leverage for
this by taking insanity and mental illness as a cause. The human which do the wrong thing they
take it as an shield to protect themselves for their criminal acts. It is essential for the defendants
who has charged for the crime to prove their insanity in the front of judiciary panel by his proofs
and views for their acts. It is must to provide all of the information regarding to the case in the
court to take a justice for both parties3. So the person made these type of acts has to prove in
front of court that he or she does not know that what are they doing at that particular time and
after that they have to justify their sentence and statements by providing enough proof for their
acts that they are not having any type of intension to hurt the other party. So they have to make a
proper justification of their statements so they have to make a proper and valid discussion about
it in front of the judiciary panel. The proper proves must be given by the defenders to show that
their acts are not controllable by them and many more factors like this to save them from the
legal punishment. A person which is having a mental illness is not accountable for their acts so
now it is the responsibility of the judiciary to make a better decision on it to decrease the chance
of this type of act in the future.
As per the case study Alf is having a serious kind of issue regarding to their blood which
creates a clot in their mind by which he has loose their consciousness for a time being and he
does not know that what he has done in that particular time of period. He has charged for choke
of his girlfriend and killing of her. Now he has been charged for the murder of his girlfriend. So
now it is essential for Alf to provide all the proofs in the court which will prove that he is
suffering from the medical illness. According to the evidences which they had been got it is
been shown that he had choked his girlfriend so now it is essential for Alf to provide all of the
evidences and proof which can help him to make a belief to the judiciary panel on their mental
illness4. As doctors has prescribed him a double dose for a day to make him make well for the
whole day, it is also an strong proof for them to get judiciary belief on it that he is having
3 Rumbold J. Automatism and driving offences. Journal of forensic and legal medicine.
2013 Oct 31;20(7):825-9.

serious kind of disease and he does not have any kind of control on his actions when he get
blackout. As mentioned in the it is been happened at night which shows that Alf's
unconsciousness has attacked on his mind when he was sleeping. The insanity is having a huge
relationship with the case because insanity is a term which is related to the mental illness and
problems so it is essential for Alf to provide all of the proof and evidences to the judiciary panel
and legal advisor to take the leverage of their disease.
He has just charged in this case, judiciary not declared him as guilty so it is essential for
Alf to be positive in this case and they should know collect all of the medical certificates by
which he can prove their innocence in this case. He has lost his girlfriend she give him lot of
moral support in his disease but know he had been lost his girlfriend also., . By his medical
certificates and statements of his relatives and friends he can be free from the charge so he has to
collect all of the relevant informations as an evidence which will be in his favour and provide
strength in the case5. It is having huge impacts on the duties of Alf, he has to make a proper
analysis of his habits in his daily routine and he have to make a proper analysis of those
particular situations in which he had got stuck and blackout. So he have to make an proper
improvement on those particular situations and time periods when he was got in the unconscious
situations so he have to take proper informations from their relatives and friends. This acts
creates some of the duties like; they have to take his health on the serious note and his have to
take a proper treatment by living in the care home. He have to take regular cardio to reduce the
risk of these type of blackout to reduce the risk of these type of acts and charges in his future.
PART 2
Defence of automatism and influence on the responsibilities of Alf
It is term which is used in the legal works, this term states about a situation of the person
in which he does not done with any intention to perform a particular action but it just happen in
a while which is a sudden reaction of the mind for a particular situation. According to this a
4 Morrison I, Rumbold JM, Riha RL. Medicolegal aspects of complex behaviours arising
from the sleep period: a review and guide for the practising sleep physician. Sleep medicine
reviews. 2014 Jun 30;18(3):249-60.
5 Marks V. Hypoglycaemia and automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul
1;55(3):186-93.

human is not having a particular intension to harm some one by their acts but it has just happen
by the combination of their mental and body reactions6. It is a situation which is having a proper
involvement of the case person in the acts but actually he is not having any type of intension
behind this to harm any one by their body. In these type of situation they has loss control of their
mind on their body movement and it is a type of muscle reactions for that particular situations. It
is a kind of reflection on the sudden acts in which their body moves harms to others in the legal
term it is a type of offence which is not having any intension of the defendants in it but as for the
legal aspect that particular person is accountable to be charged for their acts and they has to
prove why they had done this7. It is a type of automatic reaction of the body and part of the body
for a sudden situations. So some of the time many people take this automatism as a shield for
their criminal acts which has done by them affecting by proper intension to make a physically
harm to others.
As per the case study both Alf and his girlfriend was sleeping as Alf is having the blood
related problem by which he got in the unconscious mind and this time he can perform any type
acts . According to this automatism, it had happened on that night that his girlfriend wants to
kill him by taking an advantage of his disease but suddenly he woke up and in a sudden reactions
of his arm loosing control of mind on his body he killed his girlfriend, it might be happened on
that night8. So it is essential to consider all of the evidence in the justification process of the
charge. It might be also happen on that night that he was got in to the blackout and his girlfriend
wants to help him to make him conscious and when he got the consciousness his sudden
reactions on got killed her girlfriend. So these are some possibilities which was happened on that
particular night. So Alf can defend him on these points in the court and in front of the judiciary
panel on the time of hearing by which Alf can get release by this criminal charge. As Alf has
taken double dose on that particular day so it might be a chemical reaction on his mind of the
6 Carstens P. Private defence in context of the battered wife who kills her abusive
husband/partner: Ann Elizabeth Steyn v The State (reported as S v Steyn 2010 1 SACR 411
(SCA)): cases. Obiter. 2010 Jan 1;31(2):478-85.
7 Mackay RD. An anatomy of automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul
1;55(3):150-5.
8 Ebrahim I, Rumbold J. Medico-legal evaluation of sleep-related automatism. Medicine,
Science and the Law. 2015 Jul;55(3):168-75.

tablets so it can be used by Alf as an defence by automatism in his acts. He has to prove in front
of the judiciary panel that in that conditions what he has done was just an reaction of that he is
not having any type of intention to kill her girlfriend.
Alf surely can get release by using this but it needs to have an huge e justification of the
possibilities and framing of the situation in their judiciary panel. It can help him to
determination of the final decision in his favour. They have to make a proper analysis of the
situations which was happened in that particular night to make a proper statement of the
accidental case9. It is having a huge risk of the failure so it is essential for them to make a proper
analysis and research on the automatism to defend them by the charge of the manslaughter of his
girlfriend. So he has to draft a whole situation in the front of the judge to take him in his favour
which can help him to reduce the charge of manslaughter and feel free from this mental
pressure.
It makes a clear duty on Alf that he has to make a proper control on his sudden reactions
to provide a proper safety to the people living with him . It is essential for them to make a proper
analysis on their activities by monitoring him with the CCTV so now it is his duty to make a
proper set up for the monitoring of him10. Now he has to be more liable on their acts because he
has charged for a serious type of crime so now they have to make sure that he should not be
stuck in this type of situations to remove the risk of the charges in his future.
PART 3
Impact of defence of automatism if Alf has charged with murder
Alf has charged yet for the manslaughter in which he is not having a proper intention to
harm anyone and kill his girlfriend so he is having a better option of to defend himself by using
the defence of automatism, but if he get the charge of murder of his girlfriend he has lesser
9 Carstens P. Revisiting the relationship between dolus eventualis and luxuria in context of
vehicular collisions causing the death of fellow passengers and/or pedestrians: S v Humphreys
2013 (2) SACR 1 (SCA): comment. South African Journal of Criminal Justice. 2013 Jan
1;26(1):67-74.
10 Rix KJ. Automatism–wading through the quagmire. Current Practice in Forensic
Medicine. 2016:119-37.

chance to get refuge this charge11. Because manslaughter charge and murder charge is having
huge difference and both are different view points towards to the defender. Manslaughter
provide more chances to reduce the charge but if he get charged of murder of his girlfriend
then he will has less chance to defend himself and as well as it will change the point of view of
the judiciary panel also. Now he is having a favour or possibilities of favour of judge just
because he is not done a murder, he has done a manslaughter which is not having an intention of
murder and which is not counted as a murder. So it is having lesser legal punishments and
penalties as compare to the murder charges.
Some points are there which can help him to provide details about the impacts of
automatism if charges has changed in to the murder from the manslaughter;
Change in the perception: At the present time Alf has charged from the manslaughter so
judiciary panel are taking it that Alf is not having an intensional killing but if he has charged by
murder judge has stake it as criminal action and made a serious statement on it12.
Change in the provisions of penalties: This change had made typical impact on the provisions
of the penalties finalised by the judiciary panel after hearing all that. In the manslaughter the
judges are having a lower category of the punishment as compare with people charged with the
murder.
Chance to win the defence: In the manslaughter he is having more chances to defence his case as
compare to the murder charged. Because judiciary is also having a serious actions on this type of
crime and in the murder charge Alf has to survive in more struggling situations to prove himself
has non guilty in this case.
So these are some of the impacts which has made by the change in the charge on Alf in
this case.
CONCLUSION
The above presented assignment has been concluded about Alf which has been charged
of manslaughter of his girlfriend. So he has to make a proper use of his potentials to defend him
in this case. Automatism and insanity are the two basic causes which can help him to defend in
11 Griffith R, Tengnah C. Driving with diabetes: the automatism defence. British journal of
community nursing. 2011 Feb 1;16(2).
12 Rix KJ. The common law defence of automatism: a quagmire for the psychiatrist.
BJPsych Advances. 2015 Jul 1;21(4):242-50.

this case. As he is having a rare blood disease so it is essential for him to provide proper medical
certificates to make his side strong in this case.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Card R. Card, Cross, and Jones-Criminal Law. Oxford University Press, USA; 2014 Jul 31.
Carstens P. Private defence in context of the battered wife who kills her abusive husband/partner:
Ann Elizabeth Steyn v The State (reported as S v Steyn 2010 1 SACR 411 (SCA)):
cases. Obiter. 2010 Jan 1;31(2):478-85.
Carstens P. Revisiting the relationship between dolus eventualis and luxuria in context of
vehicular collisions causing the death of fellow passengers and/or pedestrians: S v
Humphreys 2013 (2) SACR 1 (SCA): comment. South African Journal of Criminal
Justice. 2013 Jan 1;26(1):67-74.
Ebrahim I, Rumbold J. Medico-legal evaluation of sleep-related automatism. Medicine, Science
and the Law. 2015 Jul;55(3):168-75.
Griffith R, Tengnah C. Driving with diabetes: the automatism defence. British journal of
community nursing. 2011 Feb 1;16(2).
Mackay RD. An anatomy of automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul 1;55(3):150-
5.
Marks V. Hypoglycaemia and automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul
1;55(3):186-93.
Morrison I, Rumbold JM, Riha RL. Medicolegal aspects of complex behaviours arising from the
sleep period: a review and guide for the practising sleep physician. Sleep medicine
reviews. 2014 Jun 30;18(3):249-60.
Ormerod D. The Law Commission’s proposals for the reform of the defences of insanity and
automatism. Medicine, Science and the Law. 2015 Jul;55(3):156-61.
Rix KJ. Automatism–wading through the quagmire. Current Practice in Forensic Medicine.
2016:119-37.
Rix KJ. The common law defence of automatism: a quagmire for the psychiatrist. BJPsych
Advances. 2015 Jul 1;21(4):242-50.
Rumbold J. Automatism and driving offences. Journal of forensic and legal medicine. 2013 Oct
31;20(7):825-9.
Online
Automatism Lecture Notes. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.lawteacher.net/lecture-notes/criminal-law/automatism-lecture.php>.
[Accessed on 30 May 2017].
Insanity Defense. 2017. [Online]. Available Through: <http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-
procedure/insanity-defense.html>. [Accessed on 30 May 2017].