The common law of the United Kingdom

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Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
CRIMINAL LAW
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CRIMINAL LAW1
The common law of the United Kingdom has held the murder as an offence and has
considered as the most ferocious form of homicide, where one person has killed another with a
mala fide intention of causing death or any other serious injury causes to death.1 The term
‘murder’ has generally defined in the eye of law as an intention to the source of any grave harm
or damage and the amalgamation of the demise arising from that intention.2 In the given
scenario, Jill has been charged with the murder of three persons, Amy, her brother Edwin and her
boyfriend Tom. However, she has told that she did not have any ill intention to kill them, and at
the time of the incident, she has consumed alcohol. She has further told that Jill has died for the
negligence of a junior doctor, named Steven in the hospital. This paper aims to discuss the
criminal liability of Jill and Steven in accordance with the existing criminal laws in the United
Kingdom.
In the given scenario, Jill has been charged with the murder of her friend and relatives.
The issues identified in this problem that whether Jill has convicted for the murder of them or
not. It also arises that whether the junior doctor is guilty of medical negligence at the time of
treatment Amy and inject the drug theophylline, which is caused the last implant of treenail of
the death of Amy, as she has been allergic to that drug.
The Criminal Law of the United Kingdom will apply here for the defence of Jill and to
prove that there was no mens rea in the act of sets fire in a cloth and threw it into the house of the
victims.3 Jill can take a defence of the medical negligence of Steven for the death of Amy. There
was medical negligence on the part of Steven as he should be careful about his patient.
1 Allsop, Cheryl. "Cold Case Homicide Reviews." (2017) The Homicide :566-577.
2 Gibson, Kass. "More than murder: Ethics and hunting in New Zealand." (2014) Sociology of
Sport Journal 31.4 :455-474.
3 Musila, Grace A. A death retold in truth and rumour: Kenya, Britain and the Julie Ward
murder. Vol. 2. (Boydell & Brewer, 2015)

CRIMINAL LAW2
The term ‘murder’ has not been defined in any statute of the United Kingdom. It has been
recognised as one of the most serious crimes of the criminal activities of a person or group of
persons. The term actus reus, that is, such prohibited act, can be called as murder, which is
unlawfully caused the death of another person. It is an illegal activity of a person and he will be
liable for homicide. The activity of murder should be coupled with the guilty mind or intention
of the person who is accused of the murder.
The word ‘mens rea’ means the mala fide intention or the guilty mind of a person to do
any criminal activity. It is one of the essential elements for constituting the criminal liability of
the accused. In the case law, R vs Woollin 19994 it has decided that the mens rea or guilty mind
for any murder is an intention of killing or an intention of causing grievous hurt to the victim.
However, it can be mentioned in this context that mens rea may not always be proved for the act
of any accused. In the case law, Thabo Meli vs. R 19545, it has in the mind of the defendants
that they have already murdered the victim by throwing him over a cliff. There has a guilty
intention to kill the victim as well as they have done so. The court of law held them legally
responsible for the assassination of the victim.
The English Criminal Code6 has recognized the theoretical and legal framework of the
crimes as well as murder. According to this Code7, mens rea of a person in an act is one of the
main elements of the constitution of an offence. This Code has dealt with the criminal conduct of
a person, which has to be considered wrong in contradiction to the whole community as well as
against the affected of a private individual. The fundamental element of the constitution of the
crime, there should be a guilty act as well as a guilty mind, that is, mens rea. The English law has
4 R vs Woollin [1999] 1 A.C. 82
5 Thabo-Meli v R [1954] 1 WLR 228 Privy Council.
6 English Criminal Code 2009
7 English Criminal Code 2009

CRIMINAL LAW3
contained the homicide offence, which action has involved the death of any human being. This
Act8 has recognized the two types of homicide, such as murder and manslaughter. There is a
difference between these two. The term murder has required the intention of killing as well as the
intention of committing grievous harm to the body of the victim. The voluntary manslaughter is
one of the exceptions of committing murder and has contained some particular types of
vindicating factors, such as diminished responsibility, loss of control and enactment of a suicide
activity9. However, there are two types of voluntary manslaughter in the conduct of the Criminal
Code in the UK. Firstly, the manslaughter may be a kind of ‘unlawful act’ or ‘constructive,’
where the crime is slighter but fundamentally dangerous and criminal activities cause to the
death of the victim. On the other hand, the manslaughter may be caused through unrefined
negligence of a defendant, where he has breached a duty of care upon the victim, and the breach
of that duty has directed to cause of death. The second type of manslaughter may be sufficiently
gross as to the warrant of the criminalisation.10
The term unlawful or constructive manslaughter has occasioned from any act of
persistence of aspect of the delinquency murder rules, which has been abolished in the English
law.11 According to that rule, even the perpetrator of the crime or any wrongful activity hs to be
held liable or responsible as manslaughter of any death of the victim. The scope of that type of
voluntary manslaughter was vast. However, in modern criminal law, the scope of constructive
manslaughter has become narrower than before. It has required a criminal activity, which is
8 English Criminal Code 2009
9 Simester, Andrew P., et al. Simester and Sullivan’s criminal law: theory and doctrine.
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019)
10 Simester, Andrew P., et al. Simester and Sullivan’s criminal law: theory and doctrine.
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019)
11 Storey, Tony. "Unlawful and Dangerous: A Comparative Analysis of Unlawful Act
Manslaughter in English, Australian and Canadian Law." (2017) The Journal of Criminal
Law 81.2: 143-160.